Molecular imaging (MI) is a rapidly developing field that encompasses many new (and old) imaging modalities that seeks to present patient-specific and disease-specific molecular and genetic information in conventional 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional anatomic imaging readouts. The foundations of MI are based on the fusion of a “promoter” agent that will be altered in a particular environment or ...

Molecular imaging is a relatively new discipline, which developed over the past decade, initially driven by in situ reporter imaging technology. Noninvasive in vivo molecular imaging developed more recently and is based on magnetic resonance and nuclear (positron emission tomography; gamma camera) and in vivo optical imaging systems. Molecular imaging has its roots in both molecular biology and...

Nuclear medicine has become a key part of molecular imaging. In the present review article, we focus on the transbilayer phospholipids as exquisite targets for radiolabelled probes in molecular imaging. Asymmetry of phospholipid distribution is a characteristic of mammalian cell membranes. Phosphatidylcholine and sphyngomyelin cholinophospholipids are primarily located within the external leafl...

In vivomedical imaging is performed by administering energy to the body and measuring, with spatial localisation, the energy that is transmitted through, emitted from or reflected back from various organs and tissues. The difference between the administered and the recorded energy provides information about the properties of the matter with which the energy interacted. The energy most commonly ...

The limitations on the sensitivity for detecting small changes in MRI, CT, and ultrasound pulse-echo images are used to estimate the practical requirements for molecular imaging and targeted contrast enhancement for these modalities. These types of imaging are highly unlikely to approach the sensitivity for detecting molecular processes of radionuclear methods, and the prospects for achieving s...

Optical microscopy is a very popular technique for investigating the living cell. Especially, far-field illumination in combination with fluorescence detection of tagged molecules such as proteins offers minimal invasiveness yet large specificity and sensitivity. Unfortunately, its full applicability is still limited due to several reasons. For example, introduction of a fluorescent label may s...

In vivo molecular imaging is the visualization, characterization, and measurement of biological processes at the molecular and cellular levels in humans and other living systems. Among the methodologies used in in vivo molecular imaging, two methodologies are of great interest from the view of high sensitivity. One is nuclear medical imaging, and distribution and kinetics of a radiolabeled mole...

The goal of this review is to highlight how molecular imaging will impact the management and improved understanding of the major cardiovascular diseases that have substantial clinical impact and research interest. These topics include atherosclerosis, myocardial ischemia, myocardial viability, heart failure, gene therapy, and stem cell transplantation. Traditional methods of evaluation for thes...

Molecular imaging holds the promise of becoming a key diagnostic modality in cardiovascular medicine by allowing visualization of specific targets and pathways that precede or underlie changes in morphology, physiology, and function. As such, molecular imaging aims at detecting precursors or early stages of cardiovascular disease and at monitoring and guiding novel, increasingly specific and ve...

Molecular imaging is an emerging technology at the life science/physical science interface which is set to revolutionize our understanding and treatment of disease. The tools of molecular imaging are the imaging modalities and their corresponding contrast agents. These facilitate interaction with a biological target at a molecular level in a number of ways. The diverse nature of molecular imagi...