Birefringence microscopy platform for assessing airway smooth muscle structure and function in vivo

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Respiratory Medicine
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Visualizing airway smooth muscle (ASM) in vivo is crucial for understanding respiratory physiology and diseases.
• Current imaging techniques like confocal endomicroscopy and optical coherence tomography (OCT) have limitations in depth, field of view, or contrast for ASM assessment.
• There is a need for advanced imaging modalities to study ASM dynamics and structure in living subjects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel birefringence microscopy platform for in vivo imaging of airway smooth muscle (ASM).
• To assess the capability of this platform in visualizing, characterizing, and quantifying ASM in living humans.
• To investigate structural variations in ASM in subjects with mild asthma.

Main Methods:

• Development of a birefringence microscopy platform integrating tissue micro-organization with OCT.
• Validation of the platform using ex vivo swine and canine studies.
• In vivo imaging and volumetric assessment of ASM in living human subjects.

Main Results:

• Successful visualization and volumetric characterization of ASM in vivo using the developed platform.
• Quantification of ASM contractile force based on optical retardation.
• Documentation of structural ASM disease variations in individuals with mild asthma.

Conclusions:

• The birefringence microscopy platform offers unprecedented in vivo visualization and assessment of airway smooth muscle (ASM).
• This technology facilitates the study of ASM's role in respiratory diseases and its response to treatments.
• Potential to link ASM responses to clinical outcomes, improving patient care for airway diseases.