In vivo photothermal optical coherence tomography of endogenous and exogenous contrast agents in the eye
Abstract Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has become a standard-of-care in retinal imaging. OCT allows non-invasive imaging of the tissue structure but lacks specificity to contrast agents that could be used for in vivo molecular imaging. Photothermal OCT (PT-OCT) is a functional OCT-based techniq...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2017-08-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-10050-5 |
| Summary: | Abstract Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has become a standard-of-care in retinal imaging. OCT allows non-invasive imaging of the tissue structure but lacks specificity to contrast agents that could be used for in vivo molecular imaging. Photothermal OCT (PT-OCT) is a functional OCT-based technique that has been developed to detect absorbers in a sample. We demonstrate in vivo PT-OCT in the eye for the first time on both endogenous (melanin) and exogenous (gold nanorods) absorbers. Pigmented mice and albino mice (n = 6 eyes) were used to isolate the photothermal signal from the melanin in the retina. Pigmented mice with laser-induced choroidal neovascularization lesions (n = 7 eyes) were also imaged after a systemic injection of gold nanorods to observe their passive accumulation in the retina. This experiment demonstrates the feasibility of PT-OCT to image the distribution of both endogenous and exogenous absorbers in the mouse retina. |
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| ISSN: | 2045-2322 |