Three-dimensional imaging technologies: a priority for the advancement of tissue engineering and a challenge for the imaging community.
Tissue engineering/regenerative medicine (TERM) is an interdisciplinary field that applies the principle of engineering and life sciences to restore/replace damaged tissues/organs with in vitro artificially-created ones. Research on TERM quickly moves forward. Today newest technologies and discoveries, such as 3D-/bio-printing, allow in vitro fabrication of ex-novo made tissues/organs, opening the door to wide and probably never-ending application possibilities, from organ transplant to drug discovery, high content screening and replacement of laboratory animals. Imaging techniques are fundamental tools for the characterization of tissue engineering (TE) products at any stage, from biomaterial/scaffold to construct/organ analysis. Indeed, tissue engineers need versatile imaging methods capable of monitoring not only morphological but also functional and molecular features, allowing three-dimensional (3D) and time-lapse in vivo analysis, in a non-destructive, quantitative, multidimensional analysis of TE constructs, to analyze their pre-implantation quality assessment and their fate after implantation. This review focuses on the newest developments in imaging technologies and applications in the context of requirements of the different steps of the TERM field, describing strengths and weaknesses of the current imaging approaches.
Diagnostics and Metrology Laboratory FSN-TECFIS-DIM ENEA CR Frascati, Via Enrico Fermi 44, 00044, Rome, Italy.
Laura
L
Teodori
Diagnostics and Metrology Laboratory FSN-TECFIS-DIM ENEA CR Frascati, Via Enrico Fermi 44, 00044, Rome, Italy.|Fondazione San Raffaele, S.S. Ceglie San Michele km 1200, 72013, Ceglie Messapica, Italy.
Annunziata
A
Crupi
University of Pittsburgh McGowan Institute, 3550 Terrace St 5606, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA.
Alessandra
A
Costa
Department of Nanophysics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.|Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Genova, Genova, Italy.|Nikon Imaging Center, Genova, Italy, www.nic.iit.it.
Alberto
A
Diaspro
Sächsische Inkubator für klinische Translation (SIKT), University of Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal-Straße 55, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.|Department of Pediatric Cardiology, HELIOS Heart Center Leipzig, University of Leipzig, Strümpellstraße 39, 04289, Leipzig, Germany.
Susanne
S
Melzer
Sächsische Inkubator für klinische Translation (SIKT), University of Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal-Straße 55, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.|Department of Pediatric Cardiology, HELIOS Heart Center Leipzig, University of Leipzig, Strümpellstraße 39, 04289, Leipzig, Germany.
Attila
A
Tarnok
D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D059008:Time-Lapse Imaging; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
D001672:Biocompatible Materials
in vivo imaging; noninvasive imaging; regenerative medicine; three-dimensional imaging; tissue engineering