title: Polarization-sensitive optical projection tomography for muscle fiber imaging.
abstract: Optical projection tomography (OPT) is a tool used for three-dimensional imaging of millimeter-scale biological samples, with the advantage of exhibiting isotropic resolution typically in the micron range. OPT can be divided into two types: transmission OPT (tOPT) and emission OPT (eOPT). Compared with eOPT, tOPT discriminates different tissues based on their absorption coefficient, either intrinsic or after specific staining. However, it fails to distinguish muscle fibers whose absorption coefficients are similar to surrounding tissues. To circumvent this problem, in this article we demonstrate a polarization sensitive OPT system which improves the detection and 3D imaging of muscle fibers by using polarized light. We also developed image acquisition and processing protocols that, together with the system, enable the clear visualization of muscles. Experimental results show that the muscle fibers of diaphragm and stomach, difficult to be distinguished in regular tOPT, were clearly displayed in our system, proving its potential use. Moreover, polarization sensitive OPT was fused with tOPT to investigate the stomach tissue comprehensively. Future applications of polarization sensitive OPT could be imaging other fiber-like structures such as myocardium or other tissues presenting high optical anisotropy.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.|Beijing Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Mengjie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.|Beijing Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangdong 510282, China.
authors.forename: Chaoting
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.|Beijing Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.|Beijing Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Center for Molecular Biology "Severo Ochoa" (CSIC-UAM), Madrid 28049, Spain.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arranz
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering and Aerospace Engineering, Universidad Carlos III of Madrid, Madrid 28911, Spain.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ripoll
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.|Beijing Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.|Beijing Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tian
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D009132:Muscles; D051381:Rats; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D041622:Tomography, Optical / Q000379:methods*