In vivo optical monitoring of tissue pathologies and diseases with vibrational contrast

Studies of tissue remodeling require in vivo imaging techniques that are as minimally invasive as possible to avoid microenvironment perturbations. To this end, spontaneous Raman techniques have been used but low signals have limited their application mostly to point spectroscopy measurements. Novel Raman based techniques such as coherent and stimulated Raman scattering can overcome this limitation. This manuscript discusses imaging and spectroscopy applications with Raman-based contrast for in vivo tissue monitoring, and how these can be combined into spectral imaging. Using nonlinear Raman microspectroscopy techniques, in vivo imaging can be performed. (C) 2009 by WILEY-VCH Verlag GnibH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim [GRAPHICS] .