title: In vivo cell tracking with bioluminescence imaging.
abstract: Molecular imaging is a fast growing biomedical research that allows the visual representation, characterization and quantification of biological processes at the cellular and subcellular levels within intact living organisms. In vivo tracking of cells is an indispensable technology for development and optimization of cell therapy for replacement or renewal of damaged or diseased tissue using transplanted cells, often autologous cells. With outstanding advantages of bioluminescence imaging, the imaging approach is most commonly applied for in vivo monitoring of transplanted stem cells or immune cells in order to assess viability of administered cells with therapeutic efficacy in preclinical small animal models. In this review, a general overview of bioluminescence is provided and recent updates of in vivo cell tracking using the bioluminescence signal are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine and Hospital, 50, Samduk 2-ga, Jung Gu, Daegu, Republic of Korea 700-721.
authors.forename: Jung Eun
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine and Hospital, 50, Samduk 2-ga, Jung Gu, Daegu, Republic of Korea 700-721.
authors.forename: Senthilkumar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kalimuthu
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine and Hospital, 50, Samduk 2-ga, Jung Gu, Daegu, Republic of Korea 700-721.
authors.forename: Byeong-Cheol
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Ahn
keywords: Bioluminescence; Cell therapy; Cell tracking; In vivo imaging; Optical imaging