Fluorescent probes for imaging: a focus on atherosclerosis
Jing Jia1,2, Li Li1,2, Zhifang Wu1,2
1Department of Nuclear Medicine, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China. jiajing2@sxmu.edu.cn.
Insights
This review explores advanced fluorescent probes for monitoring atherosclerosis, a dangerous inflammatory cardiovascular disease. These probes offer sensitive, real-time imaging for early detection and improved cardiovascular disease management.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Molecular Imaging
- Cardiovascular Research
Background:
- Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory cardiovascular disease leading to arterial stenosis and thrombosis.
- Timely monitoring of atherosclerosis is crucial for reducing acute cardiovascular events.
- Fluorescence imaging offers high sensitivity, spatiotemporal resolution, and real-time capabilities for visualizing atherosclerosis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide an overview of fluorescent probes for atherosclerosis detection.
- To summarize studies on various fluorescent probe applications in atherosclerosis imaging.
- To discuss biological targets, progress, and limitations of current probes.
Main Methods:
- Review of scientific literature on fluorescent probes for atherosclerosis.
- Analysis of single-mode and multimodal fluorescent probe designs.
- Evaluation of probe applications in different stages of atherosclerosis.
Main Results:
- Development of diverse fluorescent probes, from single-mode to multimodal, for atherosclerosis.
- Demonstrated utility of probes in early and advanced stages of atherosclerosis detection.
- Identification of effective biological targets for probe development.
Conclusions:
- Fluorescent probes are vital tools for sensitive and real-time atherosclerosis imaging.
- Further development is needed for more accurate and efficient probes.
- Future research should focus on next-generation probes for improved atherosclerosis management.
Abstract:
Atherosclerosis, as a chronic cardiovascular disease driven by inflammation, can lead to arterial stenosis and thrombosis, which seriously threatens human life and health. Achieving the timely monitoring of atherosclerosis is an important measure to reduce acute cardiovascular diseases. Compared with other imaging platforms, fluorescence imaging technology has the characteristics of excellent sensitivity, high spatiotemporal resolution and real-time imaging, which is very suitable for direct visualization of molecular processes and abnormalities of atherosclerosis. Recently, researchers have strived to design a variety of fluorescent probes, from single-mode fluorescent probes to fluorescent-combined dual/multimode probes, to enrich the imaging and detection of atherosclerosis. Therefore, this review aims to provide an overview of currently investigated fluorescent probes in the context of atherosclerosis, summarize relevant published studies showing applications of different types of fluorescent probes in the early-stage and other stages to detect atherosclerosis, give effective biological targets and discuss the latest progress and some limitations. Finally, some insights are provided for the development of a new generation of more accurate and efficient fluorescent probes.
