Optical imaging: How far can we go

Abstract

Optical imaging comprises a broad and diverse range of technology modalities, which aim to assess the morphology, dynamics, and pathophysiology state of organs, tissues, cells, organelles, and molecules, in their natural state and real time. The development of pioneer instruments for optical imaging is referenced to the seventeenth- to eighteenth-century era (circa 1632-1723), when it is presumed that Antonie van Leeuwenhoek invented and used a prototype of the light microscope (Wollman AJM, Nudd R, Hedlund EG, Leake MC, Open Biol 5:150019, http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsob.150019, 2016). The groundbreaking discovery and its application was reported by Leeuwenhoek and Robert Hooke (Hooke R, Micrographia: or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses, with observations and inquiries thereupon. Courier Corporation, New York, 1665; Baker H, Leeuwenhoek M, Philos Trans 41:503-519, doi:10.1098/rstl.1739.0085, 1739), who used a combination of stage, light source, and lenses similar to those currently used (Wollman AJM, Nudd R, Hedlund EG, Leake MC, Open Biol 5:150019, http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsob.150019, 2016). Fast-forward to the twentieth to twenty-first century, innovative advances underscore the extraordinary progression into imaging technologies, such as 3-D electron microscopy, confocal fluorescent imaging, mass spectrometry, bioluminescence, and optoacoustics, to name a few (Weissleder R, Nahrendorf M. Proc Natl Acad Sci 112(47):14424-14428, 2015). Collectively, the new imaging modalities enable researchers to reveal complex structures and dynamic interactive processes happening deep inside cellular compartments, which can provide invaluable basic and clinical science information. The present chapter outlines over three centuries of optical imaging technology, as it relates to the rationale that led to the development of innovative methods, which have transformed the means to observe, analyze, study, and diagnose the nature of cellular structures and functions. The paradigm shift inherent to the progressive advances of optical imaging and their impact on bench to bedside applications are accordingly discussed.