| Abstract: |
Near infrared (NIR) light (700 ~ 900 nm) possesses the capability of penetrating living tissues several centimeters due to the low absorbance of tissue intrinsic chromophores such as oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin (the main absorber of visible light), melanin, water, and lipid (the principal absorber of infrared light). Featured with the deeper tissue penetration as well as nonionizing and nonradioactive, NIR light attracts extensive attentions on the development of noninvasive techniques for in vivo real time monitoring/tracing of biological signals in living tissues. Hitherto, NIR techniques have permeated to almost all aspects of health care, such as diagnosing disease (Nahum, Skippen, Gagnon, Macnab, & Skarsgard, 2006), designing the targeted molecular or drug carrier (Hsu et al., 2006), monitoring the response to therapeutic treatment (Tachtsidis et al., 2007), evaluating the rehabilitation, and so on. With the rapid development of various NIR techniques and more cooperation with clinic studies, more potential applications in health care will be exploited in the near future. |
