A method for validating depth-resolved biodistributions in topically-stained specimen with multi-channel fluorescence...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Imaging
• Cancer Diagnostics
• Molecular Imaging

Background:

• Fluorescent contrast agents targeting cancer biomarkers are crucial for detection and surgical guidance.
• Topical application of these agents to excised specimens aids intraoperative surgical margin assessment.
• Dual-probe methods use a non-specific agent as a control, but complexity arises from unknown variables affecting biomarker distribution.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and report a novel method for characterizing dual-probe accumulation in fresh tissue specimens.
• To enable the recovery of three-dimensional (3D) dual-probe biodistributions for ground-truth validation.
• To examine topical staining uptake behaviors and their influencing factors.

Main Methods:

• Development of a novel method to characterize dual-probe accumulation.
• Acquisition of 3D depth-profiles of probe distribution within whole specimens.
• Utilizing dual-probe fresh-specimen staining experiments for data generation.

Main Results:

• Successful characterization of dual-probe accumulation using 3D depth-profiles.
• Observation of biodistributions throughout whole specimens.
• Data provides a basis for validating topical staining uptake behaviors.

Conclusions:

• The novel 3D method offers a ground-truth validation approach for topical staining protocols.
• Understanding 3D biodistributions can help overcome complexities in interpreting cancer biomarker distribution.
• This technique has potential implications for improving intraoperative cancer detection and surgical guidance.