title: Fast optically sectioned fluorescence HiLo endomicroscopy.
abstract: We describe a nonscanning, fiber bundle endomicroscope that performs optically sectioned fluorescence imaging with fast frame rates and real-time processing. Our sectioning technique is based on HiLo imaging, wherein two widefield images are acquired under uniform and structured illumination and numerically processed to reject out-of-focus background. This work is an improvement upon an earlier demonstration of widefield optical sectioning through a flexible fiber bundle. The improved device features lateral and axial resolutions of 2.6 and 17 μm, respectively, a net frame rate of 9.5 Hz obtained by real-time image processing with a graphics processing unit (GPU) and significantly reduced motion artifacts obtained by the use of a double-shutter camera. We demonstrate the performance of our system with optically sectioned images and videos of a fluorescently labeled chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) in the developing G. gallus embryo. HiLo endomicroscopy is a candidate technique for low-cost, high-speed clinical optical biopsies.
authors.affiliation: Boston University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA. timford@bu.edu
authors.forename: Tim N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: Daryl
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mertz
mesh_terms: D019412:Anatomy, Cross-Sectional / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000818:Animals; D002642:Chick Embryo / Q000166:cytology*; D003199:Computer Systems; D019723:Endoscopes; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D007909:Lenses; D008853:Microscopy / Q000295:instrumentation*