Visualization and Detection of Ciliary Beating Pattern and Frequency in the Upper Airway using Phase Resolved Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography

Ciliary motion plays a critical role in the overall respiratory health of the upper airway. These cilia beat at a native frequency and in a synchronized pattern to continuously transport foreign particulate trapped in a layer of mucous out of the upper airway. Disruption of ciliary motion can lead to severe respiratory diseases and compromised respiratory function. Currently, the study of cilia requires expensive high speed cameras and high powered microscopes which is unsuitable for in vivo imaging and diagnosis. Doppler based optical coherence tomography has the potential to visualize the microscopic motion of cilia during their beating cycle. We demonstrate the development of a high-speed Doppler optical coherence tomography system that not only can rapidly determine the cilia beat frequency, but also simultaneously visualize the temporal cilia beating pattern which plays critical roles in cilia function.