High-resolution polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography for zebrafish muscle imaging

Zebrafish are an important animal model, whose structure and function information can be used to study development, pathologic changes and genetic mutations. However, limited by the penetration depth, the available optical methods are difficult to image the whole-body zebrafish in juvenile and adult stages. Based on a home-made high-resolution polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) system, we finished in vivo volumetric imaging for zebrafish, and various muscles can be clearly discerned by scanning from dorsal, ventral, and lateral directions. Besides structure information, polarization properties extracted from PS-OCT images provide abundant function information to distinguish different muscles. Furthermore, we found local retardation and local optic axis of zebrafish muscle are related to their composition and fiber orientation. We think high-resolution PS-OCT will be a promising tool in studying myopathy models of zebrafish.

Identification of Human Pathological Mitral Chordae Tendineae Using Polarization-sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography

Defects of the mitral valve complex imply heart malfunction. The chordae tendineae (CTs) are tendinous strands connecting the mitral and tricuspid valve leaflets to the papillary muscles. These CTs are composed of organized, wavy collagen bundles, making them a strongly birefringent material. Disorder of the collagen structure due to different diseases (rheumatic, degenerative) implies the loss or reduction of tissue birefringence able to be characterized with Polarization Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT). PS-OCT is used to discriminate healthy from diseased chords, as the latter must be excised and replaced in clinical conventional interventions. PS-OCT allows to quantify birefringence reduction in human CTs affected by degenerative and rheumatic pathologies. This tissue optical property is proposed as a diagnostic marker for the identification of degradation of tendinous chords to guide intraoperative mitral valve surgery.

Histology validation of mapping depth-resolved cardiac fiber orientation in fresh mouse heart using optical polarization tractography

Myofiber organization in cardiac muscle plays an important role in achieving normal mechanical and electrical heart functions. An imaging tool that can reveal microstructural details of myofiber organization is valuable for both basic research and clinical applications. A high-resolution optical polarization tractography (OPT) was recently developed based on Jones matrix optical coherence tomography (JMOCT). In this study, we validated the accuracy of using OPT for measuring depth-resolved fiber orientation in fresh heart samples by comparing directly with histology images. Systematic image processing algorithms were developed to register OPT with histology images. The pixel-wise differences between the two tractographic results were analyzed in details. The results indicate that OPT can accurately image depth-resolved fiber orientation in fresh heart tissues and reveal microstructural details at the histological level.

Full-range spectral domain Jones matrix optical coherence tomography using a single spectral camera

Jones matrix optical coherence tomography can fully characterize depth-resolved polarization properties in tissue. In this report, we described a simple single-camera based implementation of full-range spectral domain Jones matrix optical coherence tomography. The Jones matrix reconstruction algorithm was described in detail and system calibration was demonstrated with comprehensive examples. In addition to the conventional structural image, the images of retardance, optical axis and relative attenuation can be obtained from the measured Jones matrix image. Both in vitro and in vivo image examples were presented to demonstrate the polarization imaging ability of the system.

Mapping local retardance in birefringent samples using polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography

We proposed a method to extract depth-resolved local retardance in birefringent samples from conventional polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PSOCT) that uses one circularly polarized incident light. Despite the wide use of such PSOCT systems in characterizing birefringent samples, the measured cumulative retardance does not represent the true cumulative retardance when optical axis varies with depth. A Jones calculus based algorithm was designed to derive the local depth-resolved retardance from conventional cumulative PSOCT results. The algorithm was tested in samples with homogeneous optical axis as well as samples with depth-dependent optical axis.