title: Photoacoustic Molecular Imaging: From Multiscale Biomedical Applications Towards Early-Stage Theranostics.
abstract: Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) has ushered in a new era of observational biotechnology and has facilitated the exploration of fundamental biological mechanisms and clinical translational applications, which has attracted tremendous attention in recent years. By converting laser into ultrasound emission, PAI combines rich optical contrast, high ultrasonic spatial resolution, and deep penetration depth in a single modality. This evolutional technique enables multiscale and multicontrast visualization from cells to organs, anatomy to function, and molecules to metabolism with high sensitivity and specificity. The state-of-the-art developments and applications of PAI are described in this review. Future prospects for clinical use are also highlighted. Collectively, PAI holds great promise to drive biomedical applications towards early-stage theranostics.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Center for Molecular Imaging and Translational Medicine (CMITM), School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.
authors.forename: Yajing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Center for Molecular Imaging and Translational Medicine (CMITM), School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China. Electronic address: nielm@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Liming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Nanomedicine, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Electronic address: shawn.chen@nih.gov.
authors.forename: Xiaoyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D061088:Photoacoustic Techniques / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D000068936:Theranostic Nanomedicine / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends
keywords: early-stage theranostics; multiscale biomedical application; photoacoustic imaging; smart contrast agents