This PDF file contains the editorial “JBO 2012 List of Reviewers” for JBO Vol. 18 Issue 03

Compared with single-focus optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM), multifocal OR-PAM utilizes both multifocal optical illumination and an ultrasonic array transducer, significantly increasing the imaging speed. A reflection-mode multifocal OR-PAM system based on a microlens array that provides multiple foci as well as an ultrasonic array transducer that receives the excited photoacoustic waves from all foci simultaneously is presented. Using a customized microprism to reflect the incident laser beam to the microlens array, the multiple optical foci are aligned confocally with the focal zone of the ultrasonic array transducer. Experiments show the reflection-mode multifocal OR-PAM is capable of imaging microvessels in vivo, and it can image a 6×5×2.5  mm³ volume at 16 μm lateral resolution in ∼2.5  min , which was limited by the signal multiplexing ratio and laser pulse repetition rate.

We report on the development of a novel multiplexing Raman spectroscopy technique using a single laser light together with a volume phase holographic (VPH) grating that simultaneously acquires both fingerprint (FP) and high wavenumber (HW) tissue Raman spectra at endoscopy. We utilize a customized VPH dual-transmission grating, which disperses the incident Raman scattered light vertically onto two separate segments (i.e., −150 to 1950  cm ^−[sup]1 ; 1750 to 3600  cm ^−[sup]1 ) of a charge-coupled device camera. We demonstrate that the multiplexing Raman technique can acquire high quality in vivo tissue Raman spectra ranging from 800 to 3600  cm ⁻¹ within 1.0 s with a spectral resolution of 3 to 6  cm ⁻¹ during clinical endoscopy. The rapid multiplexing Raman spectroscopy technique covering both FP and HW ranges developed in this work has potential for improving in vivo tissue diagnosis and characterization at endoscopy.

Typical image-guided diffuse optical tomographic image reconstruction procedures involve reduction of the number of optical parameters to be reconstructed equal to the number of distinct regions identified in the structural information provided by the traditional imaging modality. This makes the image reconstruction problem less ill-posed compared to traditional underdetermined cases. Still, the methods that are deployed in this case are same as those used for traditional diffuse optical image reconstruction, which involves a regularization term as well as computation of the Jacobian. A gradient-free Nelder–Mead simplex method is proposed here to perform the image reconstruction procedure and is shown to provide solutions that closely match ones obtained using established methods, even in highly noisy data. The proposed method also has the distinct advantage of being more efficient owing to being regularization free, involving only repeated forward calculations.

Different types and sizes of micro- and nanoparticles have been synthesized and developed for numerous applications. It is crucial to characterize the particle sizes. Traditional dynamic light scattering, a predominant method used to characterize particle size, is unable to provide depth resolved information or imaging functions. Doppler variance optical coherence tomography (OCT) measures the spectral bandwidth of the Doppler frequency shift due to the Brownian motion of the particles utilizing the phase-resolved approach and can provide quantitative information about particle size. Spectral bandwidths of Doppler frequency shifts for various sized particles were quantified and were demonstrated to be inversely proportional to the diameter of the particles. The study demonstrates the phase-resolved Doppler variance spectral domain OCT technique has the potential to be used to investigate the properties of particles in highly scattering media.

When Maria Goeppert-Mayer made theoretical prediction of the two-photon absorption process over eighty years ago, little could be foreseen of the revolutionary breakthroughs her prediction would contribute to optical microscopy in biological sciences. However, in the past few decades, one of the most exciting developments in optical microscopy has been the extension of nonlinear optical phenomena into the realm of biological imaging.

We discuss the recent advances in the development and applications of second-order susceptibility as a contrast mechanism in optical microscopy for biological tissues. We review nonlinear optical methods and approaches for differentiation of tissue structures and discrimination of normal and pathological skin tissues, which have been demonstrated for the potential use in clinical diagnosis. In addition, the potential of second-order susceptibility imaging, encompassing applications in differentiating various types of collagen molecules for clinical diagnosis, is demonstrated. Finally, we discuss future development and application of this technique.

Confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy-a valuable analytical tool in biological and medical field of research-allows probing molecular vibrations of samples without external labels or extensive preparation. We employ confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy to characterize renal tumors and normal tissue. Results show that Raman peaks of the renal tumor at 788 and 1087  cm−1, which belong to νsPO2− and νasPO2− stretching, respectively, have an obvious increase. At the same time, the ratio of I855/I831 in renal tumor tissue is 1.39±0.08, while that in normal renal tissue is 2.44±0.05 (p<0.01). This means that more tyrosine conformation transform from "buried" to "exposed" in the presence of cancer. Principal component analysis is used to classify the Raman spectra of renal tumor tissue and normal tissue.

Sensorineural hearing loss is the most common type of hearing loss worldwide, yet the underlying cause is typically unknown because the inner ear cannot be biopsied today without destroying hearing, and intracochlear cells have not been imaged with resolution sufficient to establish diagnosis. Intracochlear imaging has been technologically challenging because of the cochlea's small size and encasement in bone. We report, for the first time, imaging of the mouse cochlea in situ without exogenous dyes, through a membranous round window, using a near-infrared femtosecond laser as the excitation and endogenous two-photon excitation fluorescence (TPEF) and second harmonic generation as the contrast mechanisms. We find that TPEF exhibits strong contrast allowing cellular, and even subcellular resolution, and detection of specific, noise-induced pathologic changes. Our results demonstrate that the round window provides a useful access to the cochlea through the middle ear, and they motivate future development of a new and efficient diagnostic tool based on two-photon micro-endoscopy.

We present an automated and systematic two-dimensional discrete Fourier transform (2D-FFT) approach to analyze collagen fiber organization through the use of second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy. Average orientations of individual domains and Ising-like order parameters introduced to characterize the correlation between orientations of adjacent domains may be used to quantitatively characterize fibrous tissues. Our approach was applied to analyze tissues including rat tail tendon, mouse skin, bovine corneas, and human corneas. We also show that collagen fiber organization in normal and keratokonus human corneas may be distinguished. The current approach may be used for the quantitative differentiation of SHG collagen fiber morphology in different tissues and may be applied for diagnostic purposes.

Alteration of the extracellular matrix in tumor stroma influences efficiency of cell locomotion away from the primary tumor into surrounding tissues and vasculature, thereby affecting metastatic potential. We study matrix changes in breast cancer through the use of second harmonic generation (SHG) of collagen in order to improve the current understanding of breast tumor stromal development. Specifically, we utilize a quantitative analysis of the ratio of forward to backward propagating SHG signal (F/B ratio) to monitor collagen throughout ductal and lobular carcinoma development. After detection of a significant decrease in the F/B ratio of invasive but not in situ ductal carcinoma compared with healthy tissue, the collagen F/B ratio is investigated to determine the evolution of fibrillar collagen changes throughout tumor progression. Results are compared with the progression of lobular carcinoma, whose F/B signature also underwent significant evolution during progression, albeit in a different manner, which offers insight into varying methods of tissue penetration and collagen manipulation between the carcinomas. This research provides insights into trends of stromal reorganization throughout breast tumor development.

Changes in the amounts of cellular eumelanin and pheomelanin have been associated with carcinogenesis. The goal of this work is to develop methods based on two-photon-excited-fluorescence (TPEF) for measuring relative concentrations of these compounds. We acquire TPEF emission spectra (λ_ex = 1000 nm) of melanin in vitro from melanoma cells, hair specimens, and in vivo from healthy volunteers. We find that the pheomelanin emission peaks at approximately 615 to 625 nm and eumelanin exhibits a broad maximum at 640 to 680 nm. Based on these data we define an optical melanin index (OMI) as the ratio of fluorescence intensities at 645 and 615 nm. The measured OMI for the MNT-1 melanoma cell line is 1.6 ± 0.22 while the Mc1R gene knockdown lines MNT-46 and MNT-62 show substantially greater pheomelanin production (OMI = 0.5 ± 0.05 and 0.17 ± 0.03, respectively). The measured values are in good agreement with chemistry-based melanin extraction methods. In order to better separate melanin fluorescence from other intrinsic fluorophores, we perform fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy of in vitro specimens. The relative concentrations of keratin, eumelanin, and pheomelanin components are resolved using a phasor approach for analyzing lifetime data. Our results suggest that a noninvasive TPEF index based on spectra and lifetime could potentially be used for rapid melanin ratio characterization both in vitro and in vivo.

In vivo visualization of human skin aging is demonstrated using a Cr:Forsterite (Cr:F) laser-based, collagen-sensitive second harmonic generation (SHG) microscope. The deep penetration into human skin, as well as the specific sensitivity to collagen molecules, achieved by this microscope enables us to clearly visualize age-related structural changes of collagen fiber in the reticular dermis. Here we investigated intrinsic aging and/or photoaging in the male facial skin. Young subjects show dense distributions of thin collagen fibers, whereas elderly subjects show coarse distributions of thick collagen fibers. Furthermore, a comparison of SHG images between young and elderly subjects with and without a recent life history of excessive sun exposure show that a combination of photoaging with intrinsic aging significantly accelerates skin aging. We also perform image analysis based on two-dimensional Fourier transformation of the SHG images and extracted an aging parameter for human skin. The in vivo collagen-sensitive SHG microscope will be a powerful tool in fields such as cosmeceutical sciences and anti-aging dermatology.

Although second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging has emerged as a powerful tool for imaging biological tissues with submicron resolution, the excitation wavelength dependence of SHG intensity in biological tissues is an optical property that is not fully understood so far. We first calibrate system factors which may potentially affect the accuracy of the wavelength-dependent SHG measurement. Then our calibration is validated by measuring the wavelength dependence of SHG signal from a BaB₂ O ₄ crystal under different focusing conditions and comparing with the theoretical calculations. The good agreement between the experimental results and theoretical calculations demonstrates that we have established a reliable method to validate wavelength-dependent SHG measurement over a broad wavelength range. We also investigate the wavelength dependence of a 10-μm thick mouse tendon tissue in both forward and backward directions. It is found that SHG of mouse tendon tissue decreases monotonically for excitation from 750 to 950 nm.

The cervix softens and shortens as its collagen microstructure rearranges in preparation for birth, but premature change may lead to premature birth. The global preterm birth rate has not decreased despite decades of research, likely because cervical microstructure is poorly understood. Our group has developed a multilevel approach to evaluating the human cervix. We are developing quantitative ultrasound (QUS) techniques for noninvasive interrogation of cervical microstructure and corroborating those results with high-resolution images of microstructure from second harmonic generation imaging (SHG) microscopy. We obtain ultrasound measurements from hysterectomy specimens, prepare the tissue for SHG, and stitch together several hundred images to create a comprehensive view of large areas of cervix. The images are analyzed for collagen orientation and alignment with curvelet transform, and registered with QUS data, facilitating multiscale analysis in which the micron-scale SHG images and millimeter-scale ultrasound data interpretation inform each other. This novel combination of modalities allows comprehensive characterization of cervical microstructure in high resolution. Through a detailed comparative study, we demonstrate that SHG imaging both corroborates the quantitative ultrasound measurements and provides further insight. Ultimately, a comprehensive understanding of specific microstructural cervical change in pregnancy should lead to novel approaches to the prevention of preterm birth.

The mechanisms that enable viruses to harness cellular machinery for their own survival are primarily studied in cell lines cultured in two-dimensional (2-D) environments. However, there are increasing reports of biological differences between cells cultured in 2-D versus three-dimensional (3-D) environments. Here we report differences in host-virus interactions based on differences in culture environment. Using ultrashort pulse microscopy (UPM), a form of two-photon microscopy that utilizes sub-10-fs pulses to efficiently excite fluorophores, we have shown that de novo development of extra-chromosomal virus replication compartments (VRCs) upon murine cytomegalovirus (mCMV) infection is markedly enhanced when host cells are cultured in 3-D collagen gels versus 2-D monolayers. In addition, time-lapse imaging revealed that mCMV-induced VRCs have the capacity to grow by coalescence. This work supports the future potential of 3-D culture as a useful bridge between traditional monolayer cultures and animal models to study host-virus interactions in a more physiologically relevant environment for the development of effective anti-viral therapeutics. These advances will require broader adoption of modalities, such as UPM, to image deep within scattering tissues.

Renal ischemia that occurs intraoperatively during procedures requiring clamping of the renal artery (such as renal procurement for transplantation and partial nephrectomy for renal cancer) is known to have a significant impact on the viability of that kidney. To better understand the dynamics of intraoperative renal ischemia and recovery of renal oxygenation during reperfusion, a visible reflectance imaging system (VRIS) was developed to measure renal oxygenation during renal artery clamping in both cooled and warm porcine kidneys. For all kidneys, normothermic and hypothermic, visible reflectance imaging demonstrated a spatially distinct decrease in the relative oxy-hemoglobin concentration (%HbO₂ ) of the superior pole of the kidney compared to the middle or inferior pole. Mean relative oxy-hemoglobin concentrations decrease more significantly during ischemia for normothermic kidneys compared to hypothermic kidneys. VRIS may be broadly applicable to provide an indicator of organ ischemia during open and laparoscopic procedures.

The fabrication details to form large area systematically changing multishape nanoscale structures on a chip by laser interference lithography (LIL) are described. The feasibility of fabricating different geometries including dots, ellipses, holes, and elliptical holes in both x - and y - directions on a single substrate is shown by implementing a Lloyd’s interferometer. The fabricated structures at different substrate positions with respect to exposure time, exposure angle and associated light intensity profile are analyzed. Experimental details related to the fabrication of symmetric and biaxial periodic nanostructures on photoresist, silicon surfaces, and ion milled glass substrates are presented. Primary rat calvarial osteoblasts were grown on ion-milled glass substrates with nanotopography with a periodicity of 1200 nm. Fluorescent microscopy revealed that cells formed adhesions sites coincident with the nanotopography after 24 h of growth on the substrates. The results suggest that laser LIL is an easy and inexpensive method to fabricate systematically changing nanostructures for cell adhesion studies. The effect of the different periodicities and transition structures can be studied on a single substrate to reduce the number of samples significantly.

Development of methods for quantification of cellular association and patterns in growing bacterial colony is of considerable current interest, not only to help understand multicellular behavior of a bacterial species but also to facilitate detection and identification of a bacterial species in a given space and under a given set of condition(s). We have explored quantitative spectral light scattering polarimetry for probing the morphological and structural changes taking place during colony formations of growing Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria under different conditions (in normal nutrient agar representing favorable growth environment, in the presence of 1% glucose as an additional nutrient, and 3 mM sodium arsenate as toxic material). The method is based on the measurement of spectral 3×3 Mueller matrices (which involves linear polarization measurements alone) and its subsequent analysis via polar decomposition to extract the intrinsic polarization parameters. Moreover, the fractal micro-optical parameter, namely, the Hurst exponent H , is determined via fractal-Born approximation-based inverse analysis of the polarization-preserving component of the light scattering spectra. Interesting differences are noted in the derived values for the H parameter and the intrinsic polarization parameters (linear diattenuation d , linear retardance δ , and linear depolarization Δ coefficients) of the growing bacterial colonies under different conditions. The bacterial colony growing in presence of 1% glucose exhibit the strongest fractality (lowest value of H ), whereas that growing in presence of 3 mM sodium arsenate showed the weakest fractality. Moreover, the values for δ and d parameters are found to be considerably higher for the colony growing in presence of glucose, indicating more structured growth pattern. These findings are corroborated further with optical microscopic studies conducted on the same samples.

A model of infrared neural stimulation (INS) has been developed to allow the temporal characteristics of different stimulation parameters and geometries to be better understood. The model uses a finite element approach to solve the heat equation and allow detailed analysis of heat during INS with both microsecond and millisecond laser pulses. When compared with experimental data, the model provides insight into the mechanisms behind INS. In particular, the analysis suggests that there may be two broad regimes of INS: the process tends to be limited by the total pulse energy for pulse lengths below 100 μs, while the temperature gradient with respect to time becomes more important above 100 μs.

The persistent influx of ions through nanopores created upon cellular exposure to nanosecond pulse electric fields (nsPEF) could be used to modulate neuronal function. One ion, calcium (Ca ^2+), is important to action potential firing and regulates many ion channels. However, uncontrolled hyper-excitability of neurons leads to Ca²⁺ overload and neurodegeneration. Thus, to prevent unintended consequences of nsPEF-induced neural stimulation, knowledge of optimum exposure parameters is required. We determined the relationship between nsPEF exposure parameters (pulse width and amplitude) and nanopore formation in two cell types: rodent neuroblastoma (NG108) and mouse primary hippocampal neurons (PHN). We identified thresholds for nanoporation using Annexin V and FM1-43, to detect changes in membrane asymmetry, and through Ca²⁺ influx using Calcium Green. The ED50 for a single 600 ns pulse, necessary to cause uptake of extracellular Ca ²⁺ , was 1.76  kV/cm for NG108 and 0.84  kV/cm for PHN. At 16.2  kV/cm , the ED50 for pulse width was 95 ns for both cell lines. Cadmium, a nonspecific Ca ²⁺ channel blocker, failed to prevent Ca²⁺ uptake suggesting that observed influx is likely due to nanoporation. These data demonstrate that moderate amplitude single nsPEF exposures result in rapid Ca²⁺ influx that may be capable of controllably modulating neurological function.

We explore diagnostic utility of a multicolor excitation multimodal nonlinear optical (NLO) microscopy for noninvasive detection of squamous epithelial precancer in vivo. The 7,12-dimenthylbenz(a)anthracene treated hamster cheek pouch was used as an animal model of carcinogenesis. The NLO microscope system employed was equipped with the ability to collect multiple tissue endogenous NLO signals such as two-photon excited fluorescence of keratin, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, collagen, and tryptophan, and second harmonic generation of collagen in spectral and time domains simultaneously. A total of 34 (11 controlled and 23 treated) Golden Syrian hamsters with 62 in vivo spatially distinct measurement sites were assessed in this study. High-resolution label-free NLO images were acquired from stratum corneum, stratum granulosum-stratum basale, and stroma for all tissue measurement sites. A total of nine and eight features from 745 and 600 nm excitation wavelengths, respectively, involving tissue structural and intrinsic biochemical properties were found to contain significant diagnostic information for precancers detection (p<0.05 ). Particularly, 600 nm excited tryptophan fluorescence signals emanating from stratum corneum was revealed to provide remarkable diagnostic utility. Multivariate statistical techniques confirmed the integration of diagnostically significant features from multicolor excitation wavelengths yielded improved diagnostic accuracy as compared to using the individual wavelength alone.

We report an accurate optical differentiation technique between healthy and malaria-infected erythrocytes by quasi-simultaneous measurements of transmittance, reflectance, and scattering properties of unstained blood smears using a multispectral and multimode light-emitting diode microscope. We propose a technique for automated imaging, identification, and counting of malaria-infected erythrocytes for real-time and cost-effective parasitaemia diagnosis as an effective alternative to the manual screening of stained blood smears, now considered to be the gold standard in malaria diagnosis. We evaluate the performance of our algorithm against manual estimations of an expert and show a spectrally resolved increased scattering from malaria-infected blood cells.

We present an optical vibrometer based on delay-encoded, dual-beamlet phase-sensitive Fourier domain interferometric system to provide depth-resolved subnanometer scale vibration information from scattering biological specimens. System characterization, calibration, and preliminary vibrometry with biological specimens were performed. The proposed system has the potential to provide both amplitude and direction of vibration of tissue microstructures on a single two-dimensional plane.

We demonstrate how compressive sampling can be used to expedite volumetric optical coherence tomography (OCT) image acquisition. We propose a novel method to interpolate OCT volumetric images from data acquired by radial B-scans in the Cartesian coordinate system. Due to the inherent polar symmetry in the human eye, the (r , θ , z ) coordinate system provides a natural domain to perform the interpolation. We demonstrate that the method has minimal effect on image quality even when up to 88% of the data is not acquired. The potential outcome of this work could lead to significant reductions in OCT volume acquisition time in clinical practice.

Lymph nodes (LN) are major checkpoints for circulating T lymphocytes to recognize foreign antigens collected from peripheral tissue. High endothelial venule (HEV) in LN facilitates the effective transmigration of circulating T lymphocytes from the blood into LN. There have been many efforts to visualize T lymphocytes trafficking across HEV to understand the underlying mechanism. However, due to insufficient spatiotemporal resolution and the lack of an in vivo labeling method, clear visualization of dynamic behaviors of rapidly flowing T lymphocytes in HEV and their transmigration have been difficult. In this work, we adapted a custom-designed video-rate laser scanning confocal microscopy system to track individual flowing T lymphocytes in the HEV in real time in vivo. We demonstrate that the HEVs in LN can be clearly identified in vivo with its distinctive cuboidal morphology of endothelial cells fluorescently labeled by intravenously injected anti-CD31 antibody conjugated with Alexa fluorophore. By visualizing the adaptively transferred T lymphocytes, we successfully analyzed dynamic flowing behaviors of T lymphocytes and their transendothelial migration while interacting with the endothelial cells in HEV.

We describe a wide-field optical tomography technique, which allows the measurement-guided optimization of illumination patterns for enhanced reconstruction performances. The iterative optimization of the excitation pattern aims at reducing the dynamic range in photons transmitted through biological tissue. It increases the number of measurements collected with high photon counts resulting in a dataset with improved tomographic information. Herein, this imaging technique is applied to time-resolved fluorescence molecular tomography for preclinical studies. First, the merit of this approach is tested by in silico studies in a synthetic small animal model for typical illumination patterns. Second, the applicability of this approach in tomographic imaging is validated in vitro using a small animal phantom with two fluorescent capillaries occluded by a highly absorbing inclusion. The simulation study demonstrates an improvement of signal transmitted (∼2 orders of magnitude) through the central portion of the small animal model for all patterns considered. A corresponding improvement in the signal at the emission wavelength by 1.6 orders of magnitude demonstrates the applicability of this technique for fluorescence molecular tomography. The successful discrimination and localization (∼1  mm error) of the two objects with higher resolution using the optimized patterns compared with nonoptimized illumination establishes the improvement in reconstruction performance when using this technique.

A dual-wavelength digital holographic microscope to measure absolute volume of living cells is proposed. The optical setup allows us to reconstruct two quantitative phase contrast images at two different wavelengths from a single hologram acquisition. When adding the absorbing dye fast green FCF as a dispersive agent to the extracellular medium, cellular thickness can be univocally determined in the full field of view. In addition to the absolute cell volume, the method can be applied to derive important biophysical parameters of living cells including osmotic membrane water permeability coefficient and the integral intracellular refractive index (RI). Further, the RI of transmembrane flux can be determined giving an indication about the nature of transported solutes. The proposed method is applied to cultured human embryonic kidney cells, Chinese hamster ovary cells, human red blood cells, mouse cortical astrocytes, and neurons.

Most reconstruction algorithms used in photoacoustic tomography do not account for the effects of acoustic attenuation on the recorded signals. For experimental measurements made in biological tissue, the frequency dependent acoustic attenuation causes high frequency components of the propagating photoacoustic waves to be significantly reduced. This signal loss manifests as a depth dependent magnitude error and blurring of features within the reconstructed image. Here, a general method for compensating for this attenuation using time-variant filtering is presented. The time-variant filter is constructed to correct for acoustic attenuation and dispersion following a frequency power law under the assumption the distribution of attenuation parameters is homogeneous. The filter is then applied directly to the recorded time-domain signals using a form of nonstationary convolution. Regularization is achieved using a time-variant window where the cutoff frequency is based on the local time-frequency distribution of the recorded signals. The approach is computationally efficient and can be used in combination with any detector geometry or reconstruction algorithm. Numerical and experimental examples are presented to illustrate the utility of the technique. Clear improvements in the magnitude and resolution of reconstructed photoacoustic images are seen when acoustic attenuation compensation is applied.

The development of technologies to characterize the ocular aqueous outflow system (AOS) is important for the understanding of the pathophysiology of glaucoma. Multiphoton microscopy (MPM) offers the advantage of high-resolution, label-free imaging with intrinsic image contrast because the emitted signals result from the specific biomolecular content of the tissue. Previous attempts to use MPM to image the murine irido-corneal region directly through the sclera have suffered from degradation in image resolution due to scattering of the focused laser light. As a result, transscleral MPM has limited ability to observe fine structures in the AOS. In this work, the porcine irido-corneal angle was successfully imaged through the transparent cornea using a gonioscopic lens to circumvent the highly scattering scleral tissue. The resulting high-resolution images allowed the detailed structures in the trabecular meshwork (TM) to be observed. Multimodal imaging by two-photon autofluorescence and second harmonic generation allowed visualization of different features in the TM without labels and without disruption of the TM or surrounding tissues. MPM gonioscopy is a promising noninvasive imaging tool for high-resolution studies of the AOS, and research continues to explore the potential for future clinical applications in humans.

We characterize the three-dimensional (3-D) double-helix (DH) point-spread function (PSF) for depth-variant fluorescence microscopy imaging motivated by our interest to integrate the DH-PSF in computational optical sectioning microscopy (COSM) imaging. Physical parameters, such as refractive index and thickness variability of imaging layers encountered in 3-D microscopy give rise to depth-induced spherical aberration (SA) that change the shape of the PSF at different focusing depths and render computational approaches less practical. Theoretical and experimental studies performed to characterize the DH-PSF under varying imaging conditions are presented. Results show reasonable agreement between theoretical and experimental DH-PSFs suggesting that our model can predict the main features of the data. The depth-variability of the DH-PSF due to SA, quantified using a normalized mean square error, shows that the DH-PSF is more robust to SA than the conventional PSF. This result is also supported by the frequency analysis of the DH-PSF shown. Our studies suggest that further investigation of the DH-PSF’s use in COSM is warranted, and that particle localization accuracy using the DH-PSF calibration curve in the presence of SA can be improved by accounting for the axial shift due to SA.

First measurements of biomedical imaging using quantum cascade lasers (QCL) are presented. We report spectroscopic imaging of serum proteins using QCLs as an example for monitoring surface biocontamination. We found that dry smears of human serum can be spectroscopically imaged, identified, and quantified with high sensitivity and specificity. The core parts of the imaging platform consist of optically multiplexing three QCLs and an uncooled microbolometer camera. We show imaging of human serum proteins at 6.1, 9.25, and 9.5 μm QCLs with high sensitivity and specificity. The sensitivity limit of 3  μg/cm² of the human serum spot was measured at an S/N=3 .The specificity of human serum detection was measured at 99% probability at a threshold of 77  μg/cm ² . We anticipate our imaging technique to be a starting point for more sophisticated biomolecular diagnostic applications.

The feasibility of spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) for breast surgical margin assessment was evaluated in tissue-simulating phantoms and in fully intact lumpectomy specimens at the time of surgery. Phantom data was evaluated according to contrast-detail resolution, quantitative accuracy and model-data goodness of fit, where optical parameters were estimated by minimizing the residual sum of squares between the measured modulation amplitude and its solutions, modeled according to diffusion and scaled-Monte Carlo simulations. In contrast-detail phantoms, a 1.25-mm-diameter surface inclusion was detectable for scattering contrast <28% ; a fraction of this scattering contrast (7%) was detectable for a 10 mm surface inclusion and at least 33% scattering contrast was detected up to 1.5 mm below the phantom surface, a probing depth relevant to breast surgical margin assessment. Recovered hemoglobin concentrations were insensitive to changes in scattering, except for overestimation at visible wavelengths for total hemoglobin concentrations <15  μM . The scattering amplitude increased linearly with scattering concentration, but the scattering slope depended on both the particle size and number density. Goodness of fit was comparable for the diffusion and scaled-Monte Carlo models of transport in spatially modulated, near-infrared reflectance acquired from 47 lumpectomy tissues, but recovered absorption parameters varied more linearly with expected hemoglobin concentration in liquid phantoms for the scaled-Monte Carlo forward model. SFDI could potentially reduce the high secondary excision rate associated with breast conserving surgery; its clinical translation further requires reduced image reconstruction time and smart inking strategies.

The dual-wavelength diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) flow-oximeter is an emerging technique enabling simultaneous measurements of blood flow and blood oxygenation changes in deep tissues. High signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is crucial when applying DCS technologies in the study of human tissues where the detected signals are usually very weak. In this study, single-mode, few-mode, and multimode fibers are compared to explore the possibility of improving the SNR of DCS flow-oximeter measurements. Experiments on liquid phantom solutions and in vivo muscle tissues show only slight improvements in flow measurements when using the few-mode fiber compared with using the single-mode fiber. However, light intensities detected by the few-mode and multimode fibers are increased, leading to significant SNR improvements in detections of phantom optical property and tissue blood oxygenation. The outcomes from this study provide useful guidance for the selection of optical fibers to improve DCS flow-oximeter measurements.

We adapted the critical angle method for measuring rough surfaces under partial contact to acquire an in vivo skin refractive index (RI). Assuming that the total reflection is the simple sum of reflection from areas that are in contact and reflection from those that are not in contact, the RI can be estimated even for partial contact with a rough surface. We found that cheek skin is sufficiently soft that a sufficiently large area can be in contact and that the critical angle was detectable. The RIs of the cheeks of adult females were measured. The RI range was about 1.51 to 1.53, at a wavelength of 550 nm, without considering systematic errors. The RIs of cheeks are significantly correlated with their conductance, which corresponds to their water content. We determined the relationship between the RI and conductance within the variation of skin under normal conditions; this relationship was theoretically obtained in previous studies. In the present study, a direct in vivo measurement method was developed that enabled us to measure the RI in daily life, although this method contains errors for several reasons, including disregarding

We present a Monte Carlo lookup table (MCLUT)-based inverse model for extracting optical properties from tissue-simulating phantoms. This model is valid for close source-detector separation and highly absorbing tissues. The MCLUT is based entirely on Monte Carlo simulation, which was implemented using a graphics processing unit. We used tissue-simulating phantoms to determine the accuracy of the MCLUT inverse model. Our results show strong agreement between extracted and expected optical properties, with errors rate of 1.74% for extracted reduced scattering values, 0.74% for extracted absorption values, and 2.42% for extracted hemoglobin concentration values.

A charge coupled device-based flow-cytometer for the measurement of full spectra was implemented and characterized. The spectral resolution was better than 1.5 nm and the coefficient of variation for fluorescence from flow check beads was 5% or better. Both cell and bead data were analyzed by fitting to measured component spectra. Separation of flow check and align flow beads, which have similar spectra, was nearly identical whether using a spectral analysis or a scatter analysis. After mixing, cells stained with ethidium bromide or propidium iodide were measured at different timepoints. The contribution of these 12 nm separated emission spectra could be separately quantified and the kinetic process of the samples becoming homogeneous due to fluorophor dissociation and rebinding was observed. Principle component analysis was used to reduce noise and alternating least squares (ALS) was used to analyze one set of noise-reduced cell data without knowledge of the component spectra. The component spectra obtained via ALS are very similar to the measured component spectra. The contributions of ethidium bromide and propidium iodide to the individual spectra are also similar to those obtained via the spectral fitting procedure

Animal models are widely used to investigate the pathological mechanisms of spinal cord injury (SCI), most commonly in rats. It is well known that compromised blood flow caused by mechanical disruption of the vasculature can produce irreversible damage and cell death in hypoperfused tissue regions and spinal cord tissue is particularly susceptible to such damage. A fiberoptic photoplethysmography (PPG) probe and instrumentation system were used to investigate the practical considerations of making measurements from rat spinal cord and to assess its suitability for use in SCI models. Experiments to assess the regional perfusion of exposed spinal cord in anesthetized adult rats using both PPG and laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) were performed. It was found that signals could be obtained reliably from all subjects, although considerable intersite and intersubject variability was seen in the PPG signal amplitude compared to LDF. We present results from 30 measurements in five subjects, the two methods are compared, and practical application to SCI animal models is discussed.

Accurate documentation of disease severity is a prerequisite for clinical research and the practice of evidence-based medicine. The quantification of skin diseases such as psoriasis currently relies heavily on clinical scores. Although these clinical scoring methods are well established and very useful in quantifying disease severity, they require an extensive clinical experience and carry a risk of subjectivity. We explore the opportunity to use in vivo near-infrared (NIR) spectra as an objective and noninvasive method for local disease severity assessment in 31 psoriasis patients in whom selected plaques were scored clinically. A partial least squares (PLS) regression model was used to analyze and predict the severity scores on the NIR spectra of psoriatic and uninvolved skin. The correlation between predicted and clinically assigned scores was R=0.94 (RMSE=0.96 ), suggesting that in vivo NIR provides accurate clinical quantification of psoriatic plaques. Hence, NIR may be a practical solution to clinical severity assessment of psoriasis, providing a continuous, linear, numerical value of severity.

The multiplex detection of biologically important molecules such as proteins in complex mixtures has critical importance not only in disease diagnosis but also in other fields such as proteomics and biotechnology. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful technique for multiplex identification of molecular components in a mixture. We combined the multiplexing power of SERS and heat denaturation of proteins to identify proteins in ternary protein mixtures. The heat denaturation profiles of four model blood proteins, transferrin, human serum albumin, fibrinogen, and hemoglobin, were studied with SERS. Then, two ternary mixtures of these four proteins were used to test the feasibility of the approach. It was demonstrated that unique denaturation profiles of each protein could be used for their identification in the mixture.

The thulium fiber laser (TFL) has recently been proposed as an alternative to the Holmium:YAG (Ho:YAG) laser for lithotripsy. The TFL’s Gaussian spatial beam profile provides higher power transmission through smaller optical fibers with reduced proximal fiber tip damage, and improved saline irrigation and flexibility through the ureteroscope. However, distal fiber tip damage may still occur during stone fragmentation, resulting in disposal of the entire fiber after the procedure. A novel design for a short, detachable, distal fiber tip that can fit into an ureteroscope’s working channel is proposed. A prototype, twist-lock, spring-loaded mechanism was constructed using micromachining methods, mating a 150-μm-core trunk fiber to 300-μm-core fiber tip. Optical transmission measuring 80% was observed using a 30-mJ pulse energy and 500-μs pulse duration. Ex vivo human calcium oxalate monohydrate urinary stones were vaporized at an average rate of 187  μg/s using 20-Hz modulated, 50% duty cycle 5 pulse packets. The highest stone ablation rates corresponded to the highest fiber tip degradation, thus providing motivation for use of detachable and disposable distal fiber tips during lithotripsy. The 1-mm outer-diameter prototype also functioned comparable to previously tested tapered fiber tips.

We evaluate the effects of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) on the histological modifications and temporal osteogenic genes expression during the initial phase of bone healing in a model of bone defect in rats. Sixty-four Wistar rats were divided into control and treated groups. Noncritical size bone defects were surgically created at the upper third of the tibia. Laser irradiation (Ga-Al-As laser 830 nm, 30 mW, 0.028  cm² , 1.071  W/cm ² , 1 min and 34 s, 2.8 Joules, 100  J/cm ² ) was performed for 1, 2, 3, and 5 sessions. Histopathology revealed that treated animals presented higher inflammatory cells recruitment, especially 12 and 36 h postsurgery. Also, a better tissue organization at the site of the injury, with the presence of granulation tissue and new bone formation was observed on days three and five postsurgery in the treated animals. The quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction showed that LLLT produced a significantly increase in mRNA expression of Runx-2, 12 h and three days post-surgery, a significant upregulation of alkaline phosphatase mRNA expression after 36 h and three days post-surgery and a significant increase of osteocalcin mRNA expression after three and five days. We concluded that LLLT modulated the inflammatory process and accelerated bone repair, and this advanced repair pattern in the laser-treated groups may be related to the higher mRNA expression of genes presented by these animals.

In this study we test the hypothesis that nonlinear optical (NLO) multiphoton photoactivation of riboflavin using a focused femtosecond (FS) laser light can be used to induce cross-linking (CXL) and mechanically stiffen collagen as a potential clinical therapy for the treatment of keratoconus and corneal ectasia. Riboflavin-soaked, compressed collagen hydrogels are cross-linked using a FS laser tuned to 760 nm and set to either 100 mW (NLO CXL I) or 150 mW (NLO CXL II) of laser power. FS pulses are focused into the hydrogel using a 0.75 NA objective lens, and the hydrogel is three-dimensionally scanned. Measurement of hydrogel stiffness by indentation testing show that the calculated elastic modulus (E ) values are significantly increased over twofold following NLO CXL I and II compared with baseline values (P<0.05 ). Additionally, no significant differences are detected between NLO CXL and single photon, UVA CXL (P<0.05 ). This data suggests that NLO CXL has a comparable effect to conventional UVA CXL in mechanically stiffening collagen and may provide a safe and effective approach to localize CXL at different regions and depths within the cornea.

This article [J. Biomed. Opt.. 17, , 077003 (2012)] was originally published online on 6 July 2012 with an error in Fig. 1. The erroneous figure was normalized by the peak, and the corrected figure is normalized by the area, causing the labeled peak positions to shift. The figure now matches the attributions presented in Table 2.

This article [J. Biomed. Opt.. 18, , 036011 (2013)] was originally published online on 20 March 2013 with two errors in the Conclusion on p. 4. The quantities 3  mg/cm ² and 77  mg/cm² should refer to micrograms, not milligrams. They were corrected to read 3  μg/cm ² and 77  μg/cm ² , respectively.

Why do I highly recommend Molecular Fluorescence: Principles and Applications, Second Edition to the readers of the Journal of Biomedical Optics? While there are many books that purport to elucidate the principles of fluorescence spectroscopy and discuss the instrumentation and the plethora of applications of fluorescence techniques, this book is unique in its depth of physical and mathematical exposition.