Bioluminescent and chemiluminescent probes are widely used for noninvasive imaging applications because of their high sensitivity and the simplicity of the equipment required to perform the measurement. Synthetic luciferin-analogue probes with in vivo imaging performance better than that of luciferin are now available. In addition, caged luciferin-based bioluminogenic probes have been emerged as a general tool for the visualization of different enzymes and analytes in vivo. Recent discoveries have led to development of highly efficient chemiluminescent probes that are extremely bright under physiological conditions. As discussed in this Minireview, chemiluminescence is ready to realize its potential as a valuable tool for imaging in living systems.
Keywords: bioluminescence; chemiluminescence; dioxetanes; luciferin; optical imaging.
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