Molecular Reporter Systems

The following sections are included:

• X-ray Contrast Agents

  • Introduction

  • Iodine-based contrast agents

• MRI Contrast Agents

  • Factors determining the relaxivity of contrast agents

  • Gadolinium-based contrast agents

  • Superparamagnetic nanoparticles

  • Liposomes/micelles/microemulsions

  • Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) contrast agents

  • Hyperpolarization by dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP)

  • MRI reporter gene systems

• SPECT Radioisotopes

  • Radioisotopes for gamma scintigraphy/SPECT imaging

  • Technetium-99m

  • Indium-111

  • Iodine-123 and iodine-131

• PET Radioisotopes

  • Production of radionuclides, lifetimes

  • Carbon-11 labeled compounds

  • Fluorine-18 labeled compounds

  • Other PET nuclei

  • PET reporter genes

• Optical Probes: Fluorescence and Bioluminescence Probes

  • Principles of fluorescence

  • Fluorescent dyes

  • Fluorescent nanocrystals, quantum dots

  • Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), quenching

  • Probes for optoacoustic imaging

  • Reporter genes for optical imaging: Fluorescent proteins

  • Bioluminescence

• Contrast Agents for Ultrasound Imaging

  • Microbubbles

  • Non-microbubble-based contrast agents

• Summary

• References