Functional optical coherence tomography and photoacoustic microscopy imaging for zebrafish larvae

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Optics
• Medical Imaging
• Translational Medicine

Background:

• Non-invasive imaging is critical for preclinical research.
• Existing modalities often lack comprehensive morphological and hemodynamic information.
• Developing integrated systems can enhance diagnostic capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel dual-modality functional optical coherence tomography and photoacoustic microscopy (OCT-PAM) system.
• To demonstrate the system's capability for simultaneous morphological and hemodynamic parameter extraction.
• To validate the system's utility in preclinical imaging of small animals.

Main Methods:

• Development of a dual-modality OCT-PAM system with an akinetic optical sensor and large imaging window.
• Integration of optical coherence tomography (OCT) and photoacoustic microscopy (PAM).
• Functional extensions including Doppler OCT (DOCT) and spectroscopic PAM (sPAM).

Main Results:

• The OCT-PAM system successfully performed direct reflection mode operation.
• Functional extensions enabled comprehensive data acquisition.
• In vivo imaging of zebrafish larvae demonstrated extraction of morphological and hemodynamic parameters.

Conclusions:

• The developed functional OCT-PAM system offers a powerful non-invasive tool for preclinical research.
• The system's ability to extract both morphological and hemodynamic parameters is vital for physiological and drug response studies.
• This integrated imaging approach advances small animal imaging for translational medicine.