分子影像学在药物研发中的应用

分子影像学可以在体外直接定量测定所标记的药物或化合物在活体内的分布，从细胞、分子的层面观测生理或病理变化，具有无创、实时、活体、高特异性、高灵敏度以及高分辨率等优点，有利于候选药物的早期筛选，及时中止不必要的实验过程，从而有效地降低开发成本，缩短开发周期，提高开发效率，有望为药物研发的模式带来革命性变革。围绕药物研发的几个关键阶段，重点介绍了分子影像学在其中的应用和进展。

Applications of molecular imaging in drug discovery and development

Molecular imaging is an emerging technology in life science and biomedical engineering, which can directly measure the distribution and changes of drugs and compounds in vivo, explore specific targets and biological processes at a cellular and molecular level. Compared to conventional imaging modalities, molecular imaging is noninvasive, real-time, specific, sensitive and of high resolution, and thus has great promises in drug discovery and development. By selecting candidate drugs that are most likely to be successful or halting those unnecessary processes, this new technique will revolutionize our understanding of preclinical and clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Here, we present some important applications of molecular imaging in the key stages of drug discovery and development.