title: Quantitative myelin imaging with coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy: alleviating the excitation polarization dependence with circularly polarized laser beams.
abstract: The use of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy tuned to the lipid vibration for quantitative myelin imaging suffers from the excitation polarization dependence of this third-order nonlinear optical effect. The contrast obtained depends on the orientation of the myelin membrane, which in turn affects the morphometric parameters that can be extracted with image analysis. We show how circularly polarized laser beams can be used to avoid this complication, leading to images free of excitation polarization dependence. The technique promises to be optimal for in vivo imaging and the resulting images can be used for coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering optical histology on native state tissue.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche Université Laval Robert-Giffard, Université Laval, Québec, QC G1J 2G3, Canada.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bélanger
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bégin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Laffray
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: De Koninck
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vallée
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Côté
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000378:metabolism; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D007834:Lasers; D008297:Male; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods*; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000379:methods*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000378:metabolism