title: Optical coherence tomography: a new strategy to image planarian regeneration.
abstract: The planarian is widely used as a model for studying tissue regeneration. In this study, we used optical coherence tomography (OCT) for the real-time, high-resolution imaging of planarian tissue regeneration. Five planaria were sliced transversely to produce 5 head and 5 tail fragments. During a 2-week regeneration period, OCT images of the planaria were acquired to analyze the signal attenuation rates, intensity ratios, and image texture features (including contrast, correlation, homogeneity, energy, and entropy) to compare the primitive and regenerated tissues. In the head and tail fragments, the signal attenuation rates of the regenerated fragments decreased from -0.2 dB/μm to -0.05 dB/μm, between Day 1 and Day 6, and then increased to -0.2 dB/μm on Day 14. The intensity ratios decreased to approximately 0.8 on Day 6, and increased to between 0.8 and 0.9 on Day 14. The texture parameters of contrast, correlation, and homogeneity exhibited trends similar to the signal attenuation rates and intensity ratios during the planarian regeneration. The proposed OCT parameters might provide biological information regarding cell apoptosis and the formation of a mass of new cells during planarian regeneration. Therefore, OCT imaging is a potentially effective method for planarian studies.
authors.affiliation: Institude of Applied Mechanics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Sheng
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Institude of Applied Mechanics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chin-Chou
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Statistics and Information Science, Ming-Chuan University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jen-Jen
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Institude of Applied Mechanics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chien-Cheng
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan [2] Department of Radiation Oncology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chun-Chieh
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan [2] Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chiao-Yin
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan [2] Institute for Radiological Research, Chang Gung University/Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Po-Hsiang
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Tsui
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology; D010932:Planarians / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D012038:Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*