Micro-optical coherence tomography for high-resolution morphologic imaging of cellular and nerval corneal micro-structures

Andreas Wartak; Merle S. Schenk; Verena Bühler; Stefan A. Kassumeh; Reginald Birngruber; Guillermo J. Tearney

doi:10.1364/BOE.402971

Micro-optical coherence tomography for high-resolution morphologic imaging of cellular and nerval corneal micro-structures

Andreas Wartak, Merle S. Schenk, Verena Bühler, Stefan A. Kassumeh, Reginald Birngruber, Guillermo J. Tearney^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Institute of Biomedical Optics

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We demonstrate the highest resolution (1.5×1.5×1 µm) micrometer optical coherence tomography (µOCT) imaging of the morphologic micro-structure of excised swine and nonhuman primate corneas. Besides epithelial, stromal, and endothelial cell morphology, this report focuses on investigating the most peripheral corneal nerve fibers, the nerve fibers of the subbasal plexus (SBP). Alterations of SBP nerve density and composition are reportedly linked to major neurologic disorders, such as diabetic neuropathy, potentially indicating earliest onsets of denervation. Here, the fine, hyperreflective, epithelial nerve structures located just above Bowman’s membrane, are i) visualized using our µOCT prototype, ii) validated by comparison to fluorescence confocal microscopy (including selective immunohistochemical staining), and iii) segmented using state-of-the-art image processing. Here, we also introduce polarization sensitive (PS) µOCT imaging, demonstrating, to the best of our knowledge, the highest resolution corneal PS-OCT scans reported to date.

Original language	English
Journal	Biomedical Optics Express
Volume	11
Issue number	10
Pages (from-to)	5920-5933
Number of pages	14
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1364/BOE.402971
Publication status	Published - 30.09.2020

Funding

SPIE (A.W., Franz Hillenkamp Postdoctoral Fellowship); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (KA 5075/2-1); Hazard Family Foundation; John and Dottie Remondi Foundation. We thank Brian Battersby from the Computational Core of the Wellman Center for Photomedicine (WCP) for his help regarding data acquisition software development. We thank Jie Zhao and Jermaine Henderson from the Photopathology Core of the WPC for her help regarding FCM image acquisition. We thank Gabriela Apiou-Sbirlea from the Translational Research Core of the WCP and the Mass General Research Institute for support. We also would like to acknowledge the Hazard Family Foundation and the John and Dottie Remondi Foundation for their generous support of this work. G.J.T. has a financial/fiduciary interest in SpectraWave, a company developing an OCT-NIRS intracoronary imaging system and catheter. His financial/fiduciary interest was reviewed and is managed by the Massachusetts General Hospital and Partners HealthCare in accordance with their conflict of interest policies. G.J.T. also consults for SpectraWave and receives µOCT sponsored research funding from Vertex, CNUSA Biotech Holdings, Astra Zeneca, Translate Bio, and WayVector.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Research Areas and Centers

Academic Focus: Biomedical Engineering

DFG Research Classification Scheme

2.22-32 Medical Physics, Biomedical Technology

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Cite this

@article{70a9b93ca49848d7a73d5bb8454b98f7,

title = "Micro-optical coherence tomography for high-resolution morphologic imaging of cellular and nerval corneal micro-structures",

abstract = "We demonstrate the highest resolution (1.5×1.5×1 µm) micrometer optical coherence tomography (µOCT) imaging of the morphologic micro-structure of excised swine and nonhuman primate corneas. Besides epithelial, stromal, and endothelial cell morphology, this report focuses on investigating the most peripheral corneal nerve fibers, the nerve fibers of the subbasal plexus (SBP). Alterations of SBP nerve density and composition are reportedly linked to major neurologic disorders, such as diabetic neuropathy, potentially indicating earliest onsets of denervation. Here, the fine, hyperreflective, epithelial nerve structures located just above Bowman{\textquoteright}s membrane, are i) visualized using our µOCT prototype, ii) validated by comparison to fluorescence confocal microscopy (including selective immunohistochemical staining), and iii) segmented using state-of-the-art image processing. Here, we also introduce polarization sensitive (PS) µOCT imaging, demonstrating, to the best of our knowledge, the highest resolution corneal PS-OCT scans reported to date.",

author = "Andreas Wartak and Schenk, \{Merle S.\} and Verena B{\"u}hler and Kassumeh, \{Stefan A.\} and Reginald Birngruber and Tearney, \{Guillermo J.\}",

note = "Funding Information: SPIE (A.W., Franz Hillenkamp Postdoctoral Fellowship); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (KA 5075/2-1); Hazard Family Foundation; John and Dottie Remondi Foundation. Funding Information: We thank Brian Battersby from the Computational Core of the Wellman Center for Photomedicine (WCP) for his help regarding data acquisition software development. We thank Jie Zhao and Jermaine Henderson from the Photopathology Core of the WPC for her help regarding FCM image acquisition. We thank Gabriela Apiou-Sbirlea from the Translational Research Core of the WCP and the Mass General Research Institute for support. We also would like to acknowledge the Hazard Family Foundation and the John and Dottie Remondi Foundation for their generous support of this work. Funding Information: G.J.T. has a financial/fiduciary interest in SpectraWave, a company developing an OCT-NIRS intracoronary imaging system and catheter. His financial/fiduciary interest was reviewed and is managed by the Massachusetts General Hospital and Partners HealthCare in accordance with their conflict of interest policies. G.J.T. also consults for SpectraWave and receives µOCT sponsored research funding from Vertex, CNUSA Biotech Holdings, Astra Zeneca, Translate Bio, and WayVector. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

year = "2020",

month = sep,

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doi = "10.1364/BOE.402971",

language = "English",

volume = "11",

pages = "5920--5933",

journal = "Biomedical Optics Express",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Micro-optical coherence tomography for high-resolution morphologic imaging of cellular and nerval corneal micro-structures

AU - Wartak, Andreas

AU - Schenk, Merle S.

AU - Bühler, Verena

AU - Kassumeh, Stefan A.

AU - Birngruber, Reginald

AU - Tearney, Guillermo J.

N1 - Funding Information: SPIE (A.W., Franz Hillenkamp Postdoctoral Fellowship); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (KA 5075/2-1); Hazard Family Foundation; John and Dottie Remondi Foundation. Funding Information: We thank Brian Battersby from the Computational Core of the Wellman Center for Photomedicine (WCP) for his help regarding data acquisition software development. We thank Jie Zhao and Jermaine Henderson from the Photopathology Core of the WPC for her help regarding FCM image acquisition. We thank Gabriela Apiou-Sbirlea from the Translational Research Core of the WCP and the Mass General Research Institute for support. We also would like to acknowledge the Hazard Family Foundation and the John and Dottie Remondi Foundation for their generous support of this work. Funding Information: G.J.T. has a financial/fiduciary interest in SpectraWave, a company developing an OCT-NIRS intracoronary imaging system and catheter. His financial/fiduciary interest was reviewed and is managed by the Massachusetts General Hospital and Partners HealthCare in accordance with their conflict of interest policies. G.J.T. also consults for SpectraWave and receives µOCT sponsored research funding from Vertex, CNUSA Biotech Holdings, Astra Zeneca, Translate Bio, and WayVector. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2020/9/30

Y1 - 2020/9/30

N2 - We demonstrate the highest resolution (1.5×1.5×1 µm) micrometer optical coherence tomography (µOCT) imaging of the morphologic micro-structure of excised swine and nonhuman primate corneas. Besides epithelial, stromal, and endothelial cell morphology, this report focuses on investigating the most peripheral corneal nerve fibers, the nerve fibers of the subbasal plexus (SBP). Alterations of SBP nerve density and composition are reportedly linked to major neurologic disorders, such as diabetic neuropathy, potentially indicating earliest onsets of denervation. Here, the fine, hyperreflective, epithelial nerve structures located just above Bowman’s membrane, are i) visualized using our µOCT prototype, ii) validated by comparison to fluorescence confocal microscopy (including selective immunohistochemical staining), and iii) segmented using state-of-the-art image processing. Here, we also introduce polarization sensitive (PS) µOCT imaging, demonstrating, to the best of our knowledge, the highest resolution corneal PS-OCT scans reported to date.

AB - We demonstrate the highest resolution (1.5×1.5×1 µm) micrometer optical coherence tomography (µOCT) imaging of the morphologic micro-structure of excised swine and nonhuman primate corneas. Besides epithelial, stromal, and endothelial cell morphology, this report focuses on investigating the most peripheral corneal nerve fibers, the nerve fibers of the subbasal plexus (SBP). Alterations of SBP nerve density and composition are reportedly linked to major neurologic disorders, such as diabetic neuropathy, potentially indicating earliest onsets of denervation. Here, the fine, hyperreflective, epithelial nerve structures located just above Bowman’s membrane, are i) visualized using our µOCT prototype, ii) validated by comparison to fluorescence confocal microscopy (including selective immunohistochemical staining), and iii) segmented using state-of-the-art image processing. Here, we also introduce polarization sensitive (PS) µOCT imaging, demonstrating, to the best of our knowledge, the highest resolution corneal PS-OCT scans reported to date.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85094096075

U2 - 10.1364/BOE.402971

DO - 10.1364/BOE.402971

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85094096075

SN - 2156-7085

VL - 11

SP - 5920

EP - 5933

JO - Biomedical Optics Express

JF - Biomedical Optics Express

IS - 10

ER -

Micro-optical coherence tomography for high-resolution morphologic imaging of cellular and nerval corneal micro-structures

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Research Areas and Centers

DFG Research Classification Scheme

Access to Document

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