title: Fluorescence lifetime measurement with confocal endomicroscopy for direct analysis of tissue biochemistry in vivo.
abstract: Confocal endomicroscopy is a powerful tool for in vivo real-time imaging at cellular resolution inside a living body without tissue resection. Microscopic fluorescence lifetime measurement can provide information about localized biochemical conditions such as pH and the concentrations of oxygen and calcium. We hypothesized that combining these techniques could assist accurate cancer discrimination by providing both biochemical and morphological information. We designed a dual-mode experimental setup for confocal endomicroscopic imaging and fluorescence lifetime measurement and applied it to a mouse xenograft model of activated human pancreatic cancer generated by subcutaneous injection of AsPC-1 tumor cells. Using this method with pH-sensitive sodium fluorescein injection, we demonstrated discrimination between normal and cancerous tissues in a living mouse. With further development, this method may be useful for clinical cancer detection.
authors.affiliation: Medical Device Development Center, Osong Medical Innovation Foundation, Cheongju, Chungbuk, 28160, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Youngjae
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Won
authors.affiliation: Medical Device Development Center, Osong Medical Innovation Foundation, Cheongju, Chungbuk, 28160, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Byungjun
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Catholic Research Institute of Medical Science, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, 137-071, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Inwook
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Medical Device Development Center, Osong Medical Innovation Foundation, Cheongju, Chungbuk, 28160, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Seungrag
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Biochemistry; Bioengineering; Biophysics; Biotechnology; Cell biology; Engineering