ABSTRACT
Small animal imaging provides noninvasive means to assess biodistribution and pharmacokinetics of new experimental drugs and imaging probes in physiologically relevant environments in vivo. Small animal imaging methods are ideal to study new generation diagnostic and therapeutic agents. Most of the commercially available pharmaceuticals are small molecules whose mechanism of action is typically based on direct interactions as an agonist or antagonist with the target tissue or cells. Drug-polymer conjugates including protein conjugates and small-molecule drug conjugates have been successfully used in studies focused on imaging and therapy of primary and metastatic tumors. Ultra-small paramagnetic iron oxide is a nanoparticle-based contrast agent, which has been successfully used in cardiovascular applications, oncological studies, and neuroimaging. Molecular imaging brings the promise to noninvasively assess physiological effects of the therapy in small animals, which when translated to patients can aid in developing new pharmaceuticals with increased clinical efficacy.
