Optical imaging of mitochondria for cancer therapy

Mitochondria are essential organelles that provide most of the energy to eukaryotic cells and also regulate programmed cell death. Optical imaging has been used for over 100 years to visualize and characterize these organelles. In recent years, new and improved optical imaging approaches have been used for functional imaging of mitochondria. Notably, several novel small molecule imaging probes have been developed, alongside fluorescent protein probes, to permit optical imaging of mitochondria to shed light on the molecular functioning of the organelle and associated proteins in disease. This chapter examines an historic perspective on some of the major developments in optical imaging of mitochondria.