Improved label-free diagnostics and pathological assessment of atherosclerotic plaques through nonlinear microscopy

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Optics
• Pathology
• Cardiovascular Research

Background:

• Atherosclerosis, a leading cause of coronary heart disease, involves lipid accumulation and inflammation in arterial walls, forming plaques.
• Plaque characterization is crucial for assessing disease severity but current histopathology methods are operator-dependent and time-consuming.
• Label-free, advanced imaging techniques are needed to overcome limitations of traditional diagnostic methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a multimodal nonlinear optical microscopy approach for label-free characterization of atherosclerotic plaques.
• To discriminate between different tissue components within human carotid atherosclerotic specimens.
• To establish a foundation for automated and rapid atherosclerotic biopsy analysis.

Main Methods:

• Combined second-harmonic generation (SHG), two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF), and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM).
• Acquisition of morphological and molecular information from ex vivo human carotid artery specimens.
• Analysis of lifetime, TPEF-to-SHG ratio, and image patterns for tissue discrimination.

Main Results:

• Successfully discriminated between various tissue types within atherosclerotic plaques.
• Demonstrated the capability of multimodal nonlinear microscopy to provide detailed plaque insights.
• Generated combined TPEF/SHG maps of atherosclerotic carotid specimens.

Conclusions:

• Multimodal nonlinear optical microscopy is a powerful label-free tool for atherosclerotic plaque characterization.
• The developed methodology enables detailed tissue discrimination based on optical properties.
• This approach holds potential for future automated diagnostics and broader applications in pathology.