Light, sound, chemistry… action: state of the art optical methods for animal imaging

During recent years, macroscopic optical methods have been promoted from backstage to main actors in biological imaging. Many possible forms of energy conservation have been explored that involve light, including fluorescence emission, sound generated through absorption and bioluminescence, that is light generated through a chemical reaction. These physicochemical approaches for contrast generation have resulted in optical imaging methods that come with potent performance characteristics over simple epi-illumination optical imaging approaches of the past, and can play a central role in imaging applications in vivo as it pertains to modern biological and drug discovery, pre-clinical imaging and clinical applications. This review focuses on state of the art optical and opto-acoustic (photo-acoustic) imaging methods and discusses key performance characteristics that convert optical imaging from a qualitative modality to a powerful high-resolution and quantitative volumetric interrogation tool for operation through several millimeters of tissue depth.