1. Academic Validation
  2. A synthetic luciferin improves bioluminescence imaging in live mice

A synthetic luciferin improves bioluminescence imaging in live mice

  • Nat Methods. 2014 Apr;11(4):393-5. doi: 10.1038/nmeth.2839.
Melanie S Evans 1 Joanna P Chaurette 2 Spencer T Adams Jr 3 Gadarla R Reddy 3 Miranda A Paley 4 Neil Aronin 5 Jennifer A Prescher 6 Stephen C Miller 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 1] Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA. [2].
  • 2 1] Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. [2] RNA Therapeutics Institute, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. [3].
  • 3 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
  • 4 Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA.
  • 5 1] Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. [2] RNA Therapeutics Institute, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
  • 6 1] Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA. [2] Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA.
Abstract

Firefly luciferase is the most widely used optical reporter for noninvasive bioluminescence imaging (BLI) in rodents. BLI relies on the ability of the injected luciferase substrate D-luciferin to access luciferase-expressing cells and tissues within the animal. Here we show that injection of mice with a synthetic luciferin, CycLuc1, improves BLI with existing luciferase reporters and enables imaging in the brain that could not be achieved with D-luciferin.

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