Therefore, to support all the diverse applications, the ideal imaging technology must have the ability to resolve signals at the subcellular scale and to penetrate through the whole body. The ideal imaging tool for tissue engineering must be applicable from the subcellular level to animal and human studies using safe, quantitative, and noninvasive monitoring ( Fig. 5–7 Advanced imaging techniques allow for noninvasive, longitudinal, and consistent monitoring of tissue-engineered constructs, thus overcoming limitations of the conventional tools. However, there are many advanced imaging techniques available for tissue engineers, and an increasing number of recent tissue engineering studies have begun to explore the applications of various advanced imaging modalities. Also, due to destructive procedures and limited views within the confined volume, histology requires statistical analysis to compensate for inconsistencies of experimental results at various time points and from different samples. 4 Visualizing tissue-engineered constructs using these conventional methods requires destruction of the samples, meaning that longitudinal three-dimensional (3D) volumetric assessment is extremely limited. Numerous tissue engineering studies still utilize conventional tools, such as histological techniques, which provide important but limited information, especially in the case of in vivo preclinical and clinical approaches. 1–3 Therefore, to assess advanced applications related to tissue engineering, tissue engineers need versatile imaging methods capable of monitoring not only morphological but also functional and molecular information. As tissue engineering technology matures, it proceeds toward nanoscale strategies for material construction. As a result, tissue engineering has progressed beyond in vitro and animal studies, and is rapidly advancing toward clinical applications. T he field of tissue engineering is evolving continuously, with multifaceted research being conducted using advanced technologies from various fields including engineering, molecular biology, synthetic chemistry, pharmaceutics, and medicine. Commonly used biomedical imaging modalities, including X-ray and computed tomography, positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound imaging, optical imaging, and emerging techniques and multimodal imaging, will be discussed, focusing on the latest trends of their applications in recent tissue engineering studies. The goal of this review article is to describe available biomedical imaging methods to assess tissue engineering applications and to provide tissue engineers with criteria and insights for determining the best imaging strategies. Therefore, according to the requirements of the tissue engineering studies, the most appropriate tool should be selected among a variety of imaging modalities. Each imaging method has its own range of applications and provides information based on the specific properties of the imaging technique. However, there is no single imaging modality that is suitable for all tissue-engineered constructs. Therefore, to assess advanced tissue-engineered constructs, tissue engineers need versatile imaging methods capable of monitoring not only morphological but also functional and molecular information. As tissue engineering technology significantly advances, it proceeds toward increasing sophistication, including nanoscale strategies for material construction and synergetic methods for combining with cells, growth factors, or other macromolecules.
Tissue engineering has evolved with multifaceted research being conducted using advanced technologies, and it is progressing toward clinical applications.
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