ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the field of molecular imaging utilizing aptamer-targeted probes. Molecular imaging, the visualization, characterization, and measurement of biological processes at the molecular and cellular levels in humans and other living systems, is becoming an increasingly common tool used in a variety of fields ranging from basic biology to translational medicine. Aptamers utilized for targeting molecular imaging probes have thus far been almost exclusively DNA and ribonucleic acid oligonucleotides. Optical imaging involves detection of photons emitted by a molecular imaging probe in the ultraviolet to infrared wavelength range. Fluorescence imaging is one of the most commonly used techniques in in vitro and preclinical imaging due to its simplicity in equipment requirements, lack of ionizing radiation, and ease of translation from in vitro to in vivo studies. In ultrasound imaging, high-frequency sound waves are transmitted into the tissues of interest. Magnetic resonance imaging is a clinical imaging technique commonly used to produce anatomical and physiological information.
