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Front Cover: Integrative microendoscopic system combined with conventional microscope for live animal tissue imaging (J. Biophotonics 12/2018)
- First Published: 03 December 2018

An attachable device is designed to enable optical relay between narrow-diameter, high-resolution microendoscopic probes and high-performance standalone confocal fluorescence microscopes in this study. The device achieves high performance at minimal additional cost and is demonstrated for intravital imaging of the mouse pancreas, thereby showing promise for application to physiology and disease studies.
Further details can be found in the article by Martin Köhler, Bjorn Paulson, Youngkyu Kim, et al. (e201800206)
Inside Front Cover: Miniature probe for all-optical double gradient-index lenses photoacoustic microscopy (J. Biophotonics 12/2018)
- First Published: 03 December 2018

Optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy and endoscopy are powerful tools for medical imaging. However, implementation of the imaging heads or miniature imaging probes with high resolution and long working distance has been technically challenging. The novel design of using double gradient-index lenses for light focusing and a fiber Fabry-Perot ultrasound sensor for sound detection provides a simple approach to implement such a miniature imaging probe.
Further details can be found in the article by Zhendong Guo, Guangyao Li, and Sung-Liang Chen (e201800147)
Inside Cover: A noninvasive imaging and measurement using optical coherence tomography angiography for the assessment of gingiva: An in vivo study (J. Biophotonics 12/2018)
- First Published: 03 December 2018

Oral diseases are traditionally assessed and scored via indices such as gingival index, plaque index, etc. This procedure is lengthy, invasive (physical probing), and may cause pain/bleeding during the assessment. The assessment may also be subjective to the clinicians in different regions of the world. Detailed assessment using bio-marker such as gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) is available as a scientific tool for quantification of gingival disease. However, GCF still has the same issues regarding time, invasiveness, and cost. In this paper, we propose a non-invasive imaging technique, called optical coherence tomography (angiography). This new imaging technique can quantify micrometer-size blood vessels and features in the gingiva (rete ridges, connective tissues, etc.) that may be used as standard assessment for gingiva diseases.
Further details can be found in the article by Nhan M. Le, Shaozhen Song, Hao Zhou, et al. (e201800242)
Inside Back Cover: Longtime driving induced cerebral hemodynamic elevation and behavior degradation as assessed by functional near-infrared spectroscopy and a voluntary attention test (J. Biophotonics 12/2018)
- First Published: 03 December 2018

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to assess hemodynamics-interpreted prefrontal cortex activity on drivers responding to voluntary attention paradigm during simulated 7- hour long driving task. It has been found that the attention capability degrades with increasing driving time, while the hemodynamics at certain areas of the prefrontal cortex reveal an inverse correlation with driving time. This technology is potentially used for monitoring drivers' mental state for alerting driving fatigue.
Further details can be found in the article by Ting Li, Yu Lin, Yuan Gao, and Fulin Zhong (e201800160)
Back Cover: Segmentation of Drosophila heart in optical coherence microscopy images using convolutional neural networks (J. Biophotonics 12/2018)
- First Published: 03 December 2018

The cover, FlyNet, describes a convolutional neural network designed and trained to automatically segment the heart region of a fruit fly from time-lapsed optical coherence microscopy (OCM) images. High-resolution images of the beating fly heart were acquired using a non-invasive OCM system. The FlyNet model accurately identifies and segments the heart from the images. Morphological and functional parameters can be analyzed to characterize the health status of the fly heart.
Further details can be found in the article by Lian Duan, Xi Qin, Yuanhao He, et al. (e201800146)
ISSUE INFORMATION
FULL ARTICLES
Integrative microendoscopic system combined with conventional microscope for live animal tissue imaging
- First Published: 05 August 2018

Optical diagnosis in small animal disease models requires a combination of minimally invasive and high-resolution optical probes. Here, an attachable device is designed to enable optical relay between narrow-diameter, high-resolution microendoscopic probes and high-performance standalone confocal fluorescence microscopes. The device achieves high performance at minimal additional cost, and is demonstrated for intravital imaging of the mouse pancreas, thereby showing promise for application to physiology and disease studies.
Miniature probe for all-optical double gradient-index lenses photoacoustic microscopy
- First Published: 13 July 2018

Optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy and endoscopy are powerful tools for medical imaging. However, implementation of the imaging heads or miniature probes with high resolution and long working distance has been technically challenging. The novel design of using double gradient-index lenses for light focusing and a fiber Fabry-Perot ultrasound sensor for sound detection provides a simple approach to implement such a miniature imaging probe.
Segmentation of Drosophila heart in optical coherence microscopy images using convolutional neural networks
- First Published: 10 July 2018

Convolutional neural networks are powerful tools for image segmentation and classification. In this paper, a neural network is built to identify and mark the heart region of Drosophila images acquired by a optical coherence microscopy system. By building and training the neural network, we successfully achieved high accuracy of prediction in terms of intersection of union, and various morphological and dynamical cardiac parameters can be quantified accurately with automatically segmented heart regions.
EDITOR'S CHOICE
A noninvasive imaging and measurement using optical coherence tomography angiography for the assessment of gingiva: An in vivo study
- First Published: 15 August 2018

This paper describes a depth-resolved microscopy technique, namely optical coherence tomography (OCT), for in vivo imaging of human gingiva. The paper focuses on the three-dimensional tomography of the gingiva at microresolution and how the gingival tissues (both structure and vasculature) emerge under OCT. The findings present differences in gingival tissues between different biotypes, and strong link between gingival vascularization and inflammation. Therefore, this imaging technique can serve as an important diagnostic tool for clinical assessment of the gingiva.
FULL ARTICLE
Longtime driving induced cerebral hemodynamic elevation and behavior degradation as assessed by functional near-infrared spectroscopy and a voluntary attention test
- First Published: 05 July 2018

It demonstrated the use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy on assessing hemodynamics-interpreted prefrontal cortex activity on drivers responding to voluntary attention paradigm during the simulated 7-hour long driving task. It's found that the attention capability degrades with increasing driving time, while the hemodynamics at certain area of the prefrontal cortex behaves an inverse correlation with driving time. This technology is potentially used for monitoring drivers' mental state for alerting driving fatigue.
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Thermal effect on dispersive infrared spectroscopic imaging of prostate cancer tissue
- First Published: 13 July 2018

This study presents, for the first time, an application of a new combined instrument to obtain chemical and thermal images of tissue samples simultaneously. This novel investigation revealed a new insight into the effect of thermal radiation on the contrast of chemical images. The demonstrated approach will be of great interests to molecular spectroscopists and clinicians, where obtaining comprehensive chemical and thermal information about tissue samples is required.
FULL ARTICLES
Functional optical coherence tomography of neurovascular coupling interactions in the retina
- First Published: 16 May 2018

As one part of the central nerve system, the retina opens a unique window for high-resolution investigation of neurovascular coupling defects. However, there is no established method for quantitative assessment of coherent interaction between neural activity and hemodynamic change within individual layers in the retina. We report a multimodal optical coherence tomography imaging methodology to enable concurrent functional monitoring of stimulus-evoked neural activities and hemodynamic responses at capillary level resolution.
Photobiomodulation therapy promotes in vitro wound healing in nicastrin KO HaCaT cells
- First Published: 02 July 2018

The wound care management after skin excision is a crucial aspect that should be considered for the quality life improvement of patients suffering from severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). Photobiomodulation therapy, based on the use of laser light with photochemical effects, could be beneficial as an adjuvant supportive treatment to promote and foster the healing process after skin excision in HS.
Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy-detection of the uptake of mannose-modified nanoparticles by macrophages in vitro: A model for detection of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques
- First Published: 24 May 2018

The single nanoparticle surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-active labels were prepared, tagged with SERS reporter, silica coated and mannose modified. The comparative SERS study of the nanoparticle uptake of three types of nanoparticles by macrophages in vitro revealed that the mannose coating triggers increased uptake. Since macrophages occur in dangerous atherosclerotic plaques, the SERS based strategy for the detection of atherosclerotic plaques via targeting macrophages in the plaques seams feasible employing catheter Raman probes.
Monte Carlo simulation of polarization-sensitive second-harmonic generation and propagation in biological tissue
- First Published: 04 July 2018

Polarization-sensitive second harmonic generation (p-SHG) is a nonlinear optical microscopy technique that has shown great promise in biomedicine. However, the complex nature of light-tissue interactions and the heterogeneity of biological samples pose challenges in creating an analytical and experimental quantification platform for tissue characterization via p-SHG. We present and validate a Monte Carlo p-SHG simulation model based on double Stokes-Mueller polarimetry for the investigation of nonlinear light-tissue interaction.
Diffuse light-sheet microscopy for stripe-free calcium imaging of neural populations
- First Published: 19 June 2018

A common problem in light-sheet microscopes is that shadows cast in the illumination lead stripes in the recorded images. When imaging brain activity in larval zebrafish, we show that stripes can both hide neurons and can flicker to produce spurious signals that could be misinterpreted as brain activity. We introduce a simple new method to eliminate stripes and which mitigates these problems.
Molecular and biophysical analysis of apoptosis using a combined quantitative phase imaging and fluorescence resonance energy transfer microscope
- First Published: 13 June 2018

Cancerous phenotypes often have dysregulated apoptotic pathways. Here, we introduce a microscope which combines quantitative phase imaging (QPI) with the fluorescence (or Förster) resonance energy transfer (FRET) enabled molecular sensitivity. Apoptotic activity was detected using FRET and correlated to QPI-derived measures including optical volume and disorder strength. Cell disorder strength changed significantly during the onset of apoptosis.
Quantitative in vivo detection of adipose tissue browning using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy in near-infrared II window
- First Published: 05 July 2018

In order to reduce or prevent obesity, conversion of white adipose tissue (WAT) cells to “beige” or “brown-like” adipocytes in animals, having functional similarity to brown adipose tissue (BAT), has recently been aspired as novel therapeutics in metabolic medicine. However, quantification of “browning” process using common imaging modalities is still a challenge. Here, we demonstrated a simple, label-free, cost-effective fiber optic-based diffuse reflectance spectroscopy in near infrared II optical window to quantify browning based on the lipid fraction changes that gradually decreases from WAT to BAT with an intermediate value for beige.
Control of optical transparency and infrared laser heating of costal cartilage via injection of iohexol
- First Published: 25 July 2018

Injection of iohexol enables to increase cartilage transparency for the green (λ = 532 nm) and infrared (λ = 1560 nm) radiation. However, iohexol increases the maximum temperature in the course of IR irradiation of cartilage due to the higher hygroscopicity, lower drying rate and higher percentage of bound water in modified tissue. At power densities higher than 500 W/cm2 iohexol rapidly decomposes to molecular iodine and fluorescent residue exited by green light.
Transmission of classically entangled beams through mouse brain tissue
- First Published: 20 July 2018
Label-free non-linear microscopy to measure myelin outcome in a rodent model of Charcot-Marie-Tooth diseases
- First Published: 09 August 2018

Measuring the treatment outcome of chronic diseases such as the hereditary peripheral neuropathies is not straightforward. It requires specific analyses among which imaging of peripheral nerve myelin. In this paper myelin of healthy, injured and diseased small rodents was imaged ex vivo and in vivo using several non-linear microscopy approaches. Coherent anti-stokes Raman scattering microscopy allows for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of peripheral nerve myelin defects in living diseased animals.
Optical windows for head tissues in near-infrared and short-wave infrared regions: Approaching transcranial light applications
- First Published: 11 August 2018

Optical permeability of freshly excised rat head tissues (brain cortex, cranial bone and scalp skin) are studied in the spectral range from 350 to 2800 nm, defining four tissue transparency windows in near-infrared and short-wavelength infrared ranges. The attenuation, scattering and absorption coefficients and attenuation lengths are evaluated for all the windows. The absorption spectra are analyzed in-detail to identify characteristic spectral features of the tissue constituents.
In vitro cytotoxicity evaluation of cadmium by label-free holographic microscopy
- First Published: 05 August 2018

According to the International agency for Research on Cancer, cadmium (Cd) is considered as a human carcinogen. Cadmium may induce cell death by apoptosis in various cell types, although the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. In this work, we present a label-free digital holography (DH)-based technique as an in vitro cytotoxicity assay, which overcomes the limitations of conventional in vitro test based on colour or fluorescence read outs.
Optical study of chemotherapy efficiency in cancer treatment via intracellular structural disorder analysis using partial wave spectroscopy
- First Published: 05 June 2018

Resistance to chemotherapy drug is a problem in cancer treatment. Results of partial wave spectroscopy optical studies show that ultrastructural properties of drug-resistance cancer cells have an average higher structural disorder than that of drug-nonresistance or usual cancer cells. Although increase in the structural disorder with progress of cancer is known, the increase in additional structural disorder in drug-resistance cancer cells can be attributed to extra aggressiveness of these cancer cells.