Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Imperial College London, Faculty of Medicine, 65 Aspenlea Road, London W6 8LH, UK.
Rheumatology (Oxford). 2010 Aug;49(8):1436-46. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keq012. Epub 2010 Mar 24.
In vivo molecular optical imaging has significant potential to delineate and measure, at the macroscopic level, in vivo biological processes that are occurring at the cellular and molecular level. Optical imaging has already been developed for in vitro and ex vivo applications in molecular and cellular biology (e.g. fluorescence confocal microscopy), but is still at an early stage of development as a whole-animal in vivo imaging technique. Both sensitivity and spatial resolution remain incompletely defined. Rapid advances in hardware technology and highly innovative reporter probes and dyes will be expected to deliver significant insight into perturbations of molecular pathways that occur in disease, ultimately with the potential of translating into future molecular imaging techniques for patients with arthritis. This review will focus on currently available technologies for live in vivo animal optical imaging, including fluorescence reflectance imaging, potential novel tomographic techniques, bioluminescence reporter technology and potential novel labelling techniques, highlighting in particular the potential application of in vivo fluorescence imaging in arthritis.
体内分子光学成像是一种具有重要潜力的技术，可以在宏观水平上描绘和测量细胞和分子水平上发生的活体生物过程。光学成像是分子和细胞生物学中体外和离体应用的一种已经发展起来的技术（例如荧光共聚焦显微镜），但作为一种整体动物活体成像技术，它仍处于早期发展阶段。灵敏度和空间分辨率仍然没有完全定义。硬件技术的快速发展和高度创新的报告探针和染料将有望深入了解疾病中发生的分子途径的干扰，最终有可能转化为关节炎患者的未来分子成像技术。本文将重点介绍目前可用于活体动物体内光学成像的技术，包括荧光反射成像、潜在的新型断层扫描技术、生物发光报告基因技术和潜在的新型标记技术，特别强调体内荧光成像在关节炎中的潜在应用。
