Molecular imaging has been a rapidly developing field of molecular biology. Specific sophisticated approaches have been pursued to effectively monitor the fate of transplanted cells in the body, i.e. retention in target organ, migration routes and cell survival up to their final destination. One of the strategies involves direct or indirect labeling of target cells. Direct labelling is based on the incorporation of chemical agents adhering to the cell surface like fluorescence, luminescence or radioactive tracing probes. Indirect labelling requires introduction of the promoter reporter systems to the cells with variety of molecular probes. Here, we would like to comment on promoter reporter systems currently used for monitoring of different stem/progenitor cells that could be used for a therapy of post-infarction heart.

Promoter reporter system, Fluorescence, Bioluminescence, Radiotracers, Stem/progenitor cells, Multimodal imaging, Post-infarcted heart, Cell therapy