Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2010
Since the first publication describing in vivo bioluminescence imaging (BLI), this molecular imaging strategy has been adapted to investigate a range of biological questions in a variety of fields. This imaging modality has been used to investigate mammalian physiology, disease mechanisms, and response to therapy as well as development of new therapeutic agents. This reporter gene imaging approach was enabled by the development of bioluminescent reporter genes (luciferases) as transcriptional reporters in cultured cells and small transparent organisms. As such, expression of luciferases has been used to create light-emitting cells, which can be studied in correlative culture assays and then used in animal models where a low intrinsic background signal from the host animal provides significant signal-to-noise ratios. BLI has the advantage of being relatively inexpensive and easy to use, and because it uses relatively nontoxic substrates, it is ideally suited to small animals, such as mice and rats. In addition, BLI avoids hazards of ionizing radiation. Laboratory rodents are small enough to allow light originating from luciferase-expressing cells deep in the body to be transmitted to the body surface where the photons can then be detected by sensitive camera systems based on charge-coupled devices (CCDs, see Figure 2.1).
The response of the cells expressing luciferase, or the expression of luciferase by a promoter of interest, can thus be observed in the complex environment of the living body.
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