ABSTRACT
In vivo imaging is continuously gaining interest as an efficient noninvasive technique of testing new biomolecules, drugs, and nanoparticles (NPs) in vivo. Nanotechnology is obviously a field that has benefitted a lot from in vivo imaging, although its use as a standard part of nanosystems evaluation is not established. This chapter reviews the major in vivo imaging modalities, with emphasis on preclinical imaging. It shows that Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is considered as a standard technology for studying NPs and more exciting applications include the combination of the technology with other imaging modalities, which take advantage of the unique NP properties. SPECT imaging is based on the detection of gamma photons, emitted from radiotracers and injected in an animal or a human. The basic detector of a SPECT system is the Anger gamma camera, which includes all detector modules required to convert emitted photons to images.
