Optical imaging of subacute airway remodeling and adipose stem cell engraftment after airway injury.
Acquired airway injury is frequently caused by endotracheal intubations, long-term tracheostomies, trauma, airway burns, and some systemic diseases. An effective and less invasive technique for both the early assessment and the early interventional treatment of acquired airway stenosis is therefore needed. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been proposed to have unique potential for early monitoring from the proliferative epithelium to the cartilage in acute airway injury. Additionally, stem cell therapy using adipose stem cells is being investigated as an option for early interventional treatment in airway and lung injury. Over the past decade, it has become possible to monitor the level of injury using OCT and to track the engraftment of stem cells using stem cell imaging in regenerative tissue. The purpose of this study was to assess the engraftment of exogenous adipose stem cells in injured tracheal epithelium with fluorescent microscopy and to detect and monitor the degree of airway injury in the same tracheal epithelium with OCT. OCT detected thickening of both the epithelium and basement membrane after tracheal scraping. The engraftment of adipose stem cells was successfully detected by fluorescent staining in the regenerative epithelium of injured tracheas. OCT has the potential to be a high-resolution imaging modality capable of detecting airway injury in combination with stem cell imaging in the same tracheal mucosa.
Innovative Biomedical Technology Research Center, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea ; Department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Marine-Integrated Biomedical Technology, Pukyong National University, 45 Yongso-ro, Nam-gu, Busan, 608-737, South Korea ; Yeh-Chan Ahn and Sung Won Kim contributed equally to this work.
Yeh-Chan
YC
Ahn
Innovative Biomedical Technology Research Center, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea ; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea ; Yeh-Chan Ahn and Sung Won Kim contributed equally to this work.
Sung Won
SW
Kim
Innovative Biomedical Technology Research Center, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea ; Department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Marine-Integrated Biomedical Technology, Pukyong National University, 45 Yongso-ro, Nam-gu, Busan, 608-737, South Korea.
Sang Seok
SS
Hwang
Innovative Biomedical Technology Research Center, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea ; Department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Marine-Integrated Biomedical Technology, Pukyong National University, 45 Yongso-ro, Nam-gu, Busan, 608-737, South Korea.
Yu-Gyeong
YG
Chae
Innovative Biomedical Technology Research Center, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea ; Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea.
Andrew Sungwan
AS
Lee
Innovative Biomedical Technology Research Center, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea ; Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea.
Maan Hong
MH
Jung
Innovative Biomedical Technology Research Center, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea ; Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030 South Korea.
Bong Kwon
BK
Chun
Innovative Biomedical Technology Research Center, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea ; Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea.
Sang Joon
SJ
Lee
Innovative Biomedical Technology Research Center, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea ; Department of Medical Humanities and Social Medicine, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea.
Eun-Kee
EK
Park
Innovative Biomedical Technology Research Center, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea ; Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-dong, Seo-Gu, Busan, 602-030, South Korea.
Chulho
C
Oak
(170.1610) Clinical applications; (170.3880) Medical and biological imaging; (170.4500) Optical coherence tomography; (170.6935) Tissue characterization