title: Imaging the noncentrosymmetric structural organization of tendon with Interferometric Second Harmonic Generation microscopy.
abstract: We report the imaging of tendon with Interferometric Second Harmonic Generation microscopy. We observe that the noncentrosymmetric structural organization can be maintained along the fibrillar axis over more than 150 μm, while in the transverse direction it is ∼1-15 μm. Those results are explained by modeling tendon as a heterogeneous distribution of noncentrosymmetric nano-cylinders (collagen fibrils) oriented along the fibrillar axis. The preservation of the noncentrosymmetric structural organization over multiple tens of microns reveals that tendon is made of domains in which the ratio between fibrils with positive and negative polarity is unbalanced.
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications, 1650 Boulevard Lionel-Boulet, Varennes, QC, J3X1S2, Canada.
authors.forename: Maxime
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rivard
authors.forename: Konstantin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Popov
authors.forename: Charles-André
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Couture
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Laliberté
authors.forename: Antony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bertrand-Grenier
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Henri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pépin
authors.forename: Christian P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Pfeffer
authors.forename: Cameron
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Lora
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ramunno
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Légaré
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D007368:Interferometry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013710:Tendons / Q000166:cytology*
keywords: Interferometry; Second Harmonic Generation; collagen; connective tissues; microscopy; nonlinear optics; tendon; tissue imaging