In vivo study of glucose-induced changes in skin properties assessed with optical coherence tomography

Recently, our in vivo studies demonstrated a strong correlation between blood glucose concentration and the slope of the optical coherence tomography (OCT) signal when the probing beam was scanned over a straight line. To improve the sensitivity of OCT for blood glucose monitoring, two-dimensional (2D) lateral scanning of the OCT probing beam was proposed. Depth-dependent changes in pig skin properties with variation of blood glucose concentration were revealed due to significant suppression of speckle noise and motion artefacts in 2D scanning mode. The correlation coefficient of the OCT signal slope with blood glucose concentration varied periodically in the range from -0.9 to +0.9 depending on depth. The period of variation of the correlation coefficient was 100-150 microm that corresponded to the distance between neighbour collagen bundles. We also observed a decrease of skin thickness by 10 +/- 7.5 microm with an increase of blood glucose concentration by 277 +/- 56 mg dl(-1). Mechanisms of glucose-induced changes in skin properties owing to tissue layer shift caused by dehydration associated with the glucose osmotic effect were considered.