title: Multimodal optical coherence tomography and fluorescence lifetime imaging with interleaved excitation sources for simultaneous endogenous and exogenous fluorescence.
abstract: Multimodal imaging probes a variety of tissue properties in a single image acquisition by merging complimentary imaging technologies. Exploiting synergies amongst the data, algorithms can be developed that lead to better tissue characterization than could be accomplished by the constituent imaging modalities taken alone. The combination of optical coherence tomography (OCT) with fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) provides access to detailed tissue morphology and local biochemistry. The optical system described here merges 1310 nm swept-source OCT with time-domain FLIM having excitation at 355 and 532 nm. The pulses from 355 and 532 nm lasers have been interleaved to enable simultaneous acquisition of endogenous and exogenous fluorescence signals, respectively. The multimodal imaging system was validated using tissue phantoms. Nonspecific tagging with Alexa Flour 532 in a Watanbe rabbit aorta and active tagging of the LOX-1 receptor in human coronary artery, demonstrate the capacity of the system for simultaneous acquisition of OCT, endogenous FLIM, and exogenous FLIM in tissues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 5045 Emerging Technology Building, College Station, TX, 77843, USA.
authors.forename: Sebina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shrestha
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 5045 Emerging Technology Building, College Station, TX, 77843, USA.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Serafino
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 5045 Emerging Technology Building, College Station, TX, 77843, USA.
authors.forename: Jesus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rico-Jimenez
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 5045 Emerging Technology Building, College Station, TX, 77843, USA.
authors.forename: Jesung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 5045 Emerging Technology Building, College Station, TX, 77843, USA.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Experimental Imaging and Therapeutics, Texas Heart Institute, 6519 Fannin St., Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Siqin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhaorigetu
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Experimental Imaging and Therapeutics, Texas Heart Institute, 6519 Fannin St., Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Brian L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Walton
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 5045 Emerging Technology Building, College Station, TX, 77843, USA.
authors.forename: Javier A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Jo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 5045 Emerging Technology Building, College Station, TX, 77843, USA.
authors.forename: Brian E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Applegate
keywords: (110.4500) Optical coherence tomography; (120.3890) Medical optics instrumentation; (170.0110) Imaging systems; (170.2520) Fluorescence microscopy