Paper
5 March 2015 Non-linear imaging and characterization of atherosclerotic arterial tissue using combined SHG and FLIM microscopy
Riccardo Cicchi, Christian Matthäus, Tobias Meyer, Annika Lattermann, Benjamin Dietzek, Bernhard R. Brehm, Jürgen Popp, Francesco S. Pavone
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
Atherosclerosis is among the most widespread cardiovascular diseases and one of the leading cause of death in the Western World. Characterization of arterial tissue in atherosclerotic condition is extremely interesting from the diagnostic point of view, especially for what is concerning collagen content and organization because collagen plays a crucial role in plaque vulnerability. Routinely used diagnostic methods, such as histopathological examination, are limited to morphological analysis of the examined tissues, whereas an exhaustive characterization requires immune-histochemical examination and a morpho-functional approach. Non-linear microscopy techniques offer the potential for providing morpho-functional information on the examined tissues in a label-free way. In this study, we employed combined SHG and FLIM microscopy for characterizing collagen organization in both normal arterial wall and within atherosclerotic plaques. Image pattern analysis of SHG images allowed characterizing collagen organization in different tissue regions. In addition, the analysis of collagen fluorescence decay contributed to the characterization of the samples on the basis of collagen fluorescence lifetime. Different values of collagen fiber mean size, collagen distribution, collagen anisotropy and collagen fluorescence lifetime were found in normal arterial wall and within plaque depositions, prospectively allowing for automated classification of atherosclerotic lesions and plaque vulnerability. The presented method represents a promising diagnostic tool for evaluating atherosclerotic tissue and has the potential to find a stable place in clinical setting as well as to be applied in vivo in the near future.
© (2015) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Riccardo Cicchi, Christian Matthäus, Tobias Meyer, Annika Lattermann, Benjamin Dietzek, Bernhard R. Brehm, Jürgen Popp, and Francesco S. Pavone "Non-linear imaging and characterization of atherosclerotic arterial tissue using combined SHG and FLIM microscopy", Proc. SPIE 9329, Multiphoton Microscopy in the Biomedical Sciences XV, 932919 (5 March 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2078892
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KEYWORDS
Collagen

Tissues

Second-harmonic generation

Microscopy

Fluorescence lifetime imaging

Diagnostics

Image analysis

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