Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 8, 2026
Autofluorescence Imaging to Evaluate Cellular Metabolism
Published on: November 15, 2021
Fast metabolic response to drug intervention through analysis on a miniaturized, highly integrated molecular imaging
Jun Wang1, Kiwook Hwang, Daniel Braas
1NSB Cancer Center, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California.
Unlabelled:
We report on a radiopharmaceutical imaging platform designed to capture the kinetics of cellular responses to drugs.
Methods:
A portable in vitro molecular imaging system comprising a microchip and a β-particle imaging camera permitted routine cell-based radioassays of small numbers of either suspended or adherent cells. We investigated the kinetics of responses of model lymphoma and glioblastoma cancer cell lines to (18)F-FDG uptake after drug exposure. Those responses were correlated with kinetic changes in the cell cycle or with changes in receptor tyrosine kinase signaling.
Results:
The platform enabled direct radioassays of multiple cell types and yielded results comparable to those from conventional approaches; however, the platform used smaller sample sizes, permitted a higher level of quantitation, and did not require cell lysis.
Conclusion:
The kinetic analysis enabled by the platform provided a rapid (≈ 1 h) drug screening assay.
