Frontiers in Research Reviews: Synchrotron Radiation for Dynamic Imaging of Living Systems

摘要

Synchrotron light sources exploit the fact that electrons travelling at close to the speed of light and deviated within magnetic fields produce extremely intense beams of light. The light that is transmitted to the experimental end stations within synchrotron facilities can vary from long-wavelength radiation, such as microwaves and infrared, to very short-wavelength radiation, such as hard X-ray and gamma rays. There is a popular perception that synchrotron radiation is largely an atomic and molecular research tool that can only be used by physicists, chemists and molecular biologists. Indeed, it is true that synchrotrons have played a pivotal role in the most significant molecular structural determinations of the past half century. It is less well recognized that functional imaging by synchrotron contrast angiography was first performed on patients more than 20 years ago.1 Over the past 5 years, there has been a resurgence in the biomedical applications of synchrotron radiation at synchrotrons worldwide. Exploiting all the electromagnetic properties of X-ray radiation, and to some extent infrared radiation, it is possible, for example, to determine the subcellular dynamics of a changing cell composition by detecting the fluorescence emitted from a sample. It is also possible to investigate the subcellular interactions of large molecules, such as muscle actin-myosin, by recording diffraction patterns. Further, we can image cells, tissues and whole organs with exquisite detail and contrast by recording the radiation that is transmitted, scattered or refracted. This special series examines some of the imaging applications of synchrotron radiation that are enabling us to better understand cardiovascular and respiratory function in health and disease. The four review articles by world leading research groups demonstrate how synchrotron radiation can be used by physiologists and pharmacologists to probe the regulation of essential blood flow and gas exchanges in living systems and in real time#