title: Biochemical characterization of atherosclerotic plaques by endogenous multispectral fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the potential of endogenous multispectral fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) for biochemical characterization of human coronary atherosclerotic plaques.
  
  
  METHODS
  Endogenous multispectral FLIM imaging was performed on the lumen of 58 segments of postmortem human coronary artery. The fluorescence was separated into three emission bands targeting the three main arterial endogenous fluorophores (390±20 nm for collagen, 452±22.5 nm for elastin, and 550±20 for lipids). The fluorescence normalized intensity and average lifetime from each emission band was used to classify each pixel of an image as either "High-Collagen", "High-Lipids" or "Low-Collagen/Lipids" via multiclass Fisher's linear discriminant analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Classification of plaques as either "High-Collagen", "High-Lipids" or "Low-Collagen/Lipids" based on the endogenous multispectral FLIM was achieved with a sensitivity/specificity of 96/98%, 89/99%, and 99/99%, respectively, where histopathology served as the gold standard.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The endogenous multispectral FLIM approach we have taken, which can readily be adapted for in vivo intravascular catheter based imaging, is capable of reliably identifying plaques with high content of either collagen or lipids.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 5045 emerging Technology Building, College Station, TX 77843, United States.
authors.forename: Jesung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Paritosh
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pande
authors.forename: Sebina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shrestha
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Clubb
authors.forename: Brian E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Applegate
authors.forename: Javier A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Jo
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D003094:Collagen / Q000032:analysis*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D004549:Elastin / Q000032:analysis*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008055:Lipids / Q000032:analysis*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic / Q000737:chemistry / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D008055:Lipids; D003094:Collagen; D004549:Elastin