Molecular Optical Imaging with Radioactive Probes

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 5; no. 3; p. e9470
• Main Authors: Liu, Hongguang, Ren, Gang, Miao, Zheng, Zhang, Xiaofen, Tang, Xiaodong, Han, Peizhen, Gambhir, Sanjiv S., Cheng, Zhen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 01.03.2010; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animals; Background radiation; Bioluminescence; Breast cancer; Cancer therapies; Charged particles; Diagnostic imaging; Diagnostic Imaging - instrumentation; Diagnostic Imaging - methods; Epidermal growth factor; Feasibility studies; Fluorescence; Fluorescent indicators; Fluorine Radioisotopes - pharmacology; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 - pharmacology; Glucose; Humans; Imaging; In vivo methods and tests; Investigations; Iodine Radioisotopes - pharmacology; Light; Medical imaging; Medicine; Mice; Mice, Nude; Neoplasm Transplantation; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Oncology; Optics and Photonics; Peptides; Phantoms, Imaging; Physics; Positron-Emission Tomography - methods; Probes; Radiation; Radioisotopes; Radiology and Medical Imaging; Radiology and Medical Imaging/PET and SPECT Imaging; Radiopharmaceuticals - pharmacology; Sodium Fluoride - pharmacology; Sodium Iodide - pharmacology; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon - methods; Tomography, X-Ray Computed - methods; Tumors; Yttrium - pharmacology; Yttrium Radioisotopes - pharmacology; United States > US; California
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009470

Optical imaging (OI) techniques such as bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging have been widely used to track diseases in a non-invasive manner within living subjects. These techniques generally require bioluminescent and fluorescent probes. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of using radioactive probes for in vivo molecular OI. By taking the advantages of low energy window of light (1.2-3.1 eV, 400-1000 nm) resulting from radiation, radionuclides that emit charged particles such as beta(+) and beta(-) can be successfully imaged with an OI instrument. In vivo optical images can be obtained for several radioactive probes including 2-deoxy-2-[(18)F]fluoro-D-glucose ([(18)F]FDG), Na(18)F, Na(131)I, (90)YCl(3) and a (90)Y labeled peptide that specifically target tumors. These studies demonstrate generalizability of radioactive OI technique. It provides a new molecular imaging strategy and will likely have significant impact on both small animal and clinical imaging.