In this work, multimodal two-photon excitation fluorescence (TPEF) and third-harmonic generation (THG) microscopy is used together with second-harmonic generation (SHG) to image gold standard hematoxylin and eosin histology slides. The nonlinear responses were investigated for hematoxylin and eosin stains. It is shown that the extracellular matrix (ECM) can be visualized using THG image contrast. THG signal is typically associated with interfaces and nanostructures where abrupt changes in the refractive index takes place, e.g. at blood vessel walls as well as the dense nuclei. Polarimetric THG provides a new method for ultrastructural ECM visualization. The ability of THG microscopy to visualize simultaneously nuclei and ECM is exemplified by imaging clinical tissue samples. THG turned out to be an excellent counterstaining contrast to SHG that reveals ECM proteins, cells and cell nuclei, which can be utilized for studying interactions between cells and ECM. Multiphoton imaging can be applied for investigation of structural changes in connective tissue due to various diseases and is beneficial in observing ECM and cell nuclei in cancer diagnostics and prognostics.
2-Photon imaging has dramatically expanded its reach in neuroscience-related applications thanks to the development of genetically encoded functional probes that report cellular activity and activates/silence individual neurons (optogenetics). The combination of 3D spatial resolution afforded by 2-photon imaging and the proliferation of advanced scanning and scanless methodologies enable powerful parallel functional imaging of thousands of individually selected neurons.
Faster and parallel imaging of large cell populations requires femtosecond lasers with higher average power and energy, but also improved pulse-to-pulse stability all along the required tuning ranges.
Light Conversion has pioneered the development of femtosecond wavelength-tunable devices as well as of high-energy and -power Ytterbium lasers ad amplifiers. In this presentation we highlight how these developments are powering advanced imaging techniques using reporting and optogenetic probes.
Multiphoton imaging typically requires a complex multi-device laser system, a large optical table, and skilled staff. This reality encumbers neuroscience and other biomedical applications. Here, we will present our direction to provide a turn-key solution for three-photon (3P) imaging. The application-optimized laser provides the anticipated reliability and simplicity but also maintains tunability in wavelength and dispersion control, which seems quite important in the current state of the application. We will explicitly dig into details of long-term power and pulse-to-pulse energy stability, and how that directly impacts your imaging results.
We investigate the chiral response of type I collagen using polarimetric second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy. By flipping the sample, we observe changes in the sign of the amplitude of the chiral susceptibility ratio (C), while its retardancy phase with respect to the achiral ratio (R) remains unchanged. Our findings suggest that the chiral response of collagen originates from the interaction between electric dipole moments and laser radiation. This study demonstrates the potential of polarimetric SHG microscopy for studying collagen properties and visualizing disease-related alterations.
Collagen has hierarchical structure and often undergoes remodeling at the tumor margin [1]. Polarimetric second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy can be used to investigate changes in the collagen structure and provide insight into the metastatic progression of cancer. In this work, we apply double Stokes-Mueller polarimetry (DSMP) to investigate the disorder of collagen at the tumor margin. The disorder is analyzed at several levels of spatial organization – texture analysis (gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) method) is applied at the microscopic tissue organizational level, while ultrastructure is analyzed with DSMP to obtain nonlinear susceptibility tensor for each image voxel. This allows to comprehensively investigate the changes occurring in collagen during tumor progression.
[1] Winkler, J. et al., “Concepts of extracellular matrix remodelling in tumour progression and metastasis”, Nat Commun 11, 5120 (2020).
Extracellular matrix (ECM) has important functions in cell proliferation, differentiation, and migration, which influence the development and progression of cancer. ECM in tumor microenvironment experiences changes in composition and structure that can appear early in tumor development and could serve as a biomarker for cancer diagnostics. In addition, some changes in ECM may correlate with the rate of tumor progression or its tendency to form metastases and would allow to predict future tumor development [1].
Collagen is an important structural protein found in ECM. It has a non-centrosymmetric structure, and, thus, can be easily visualized using second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy. SHG microscopy employs certain polarimetric techniques to gain detailed information about the organization of collagen in various tissues [2].
In this work, polarimetric SHG microscopy is used to acquire collagen images from normal and cancerous regions of human colon and pancreas histological samples. Texture analysis is performed on SHG intensity and polarization images to characterize the distribution of ultrastructure parameters in the tissue. Significant differences are observed in collagen ultrastructure between normal and tumor areas. Further, collagen structures of colon and pancreas tumor microenvironments are compared to investigate relative differences in ECM organization between the tissues. Finally, a machine learning classifier is used to group the acquired images in tumor and normal groups. The results show potential for development of novel cancer diagnostic technique using polarimetric second harmonic generation microscopy and texture analysis.
[1] Winkler, J. et al., “Concepts of extracellular matrix remodelling in tumour progression and metastasis”, Nat Commun 11, 5120 (2020).
[2] Golaraei, A. et al., “Polarimetric second-harmonic generation microscopy of the hierarchical structure of collagen in stage I-III non-small cell lung carcinoma,” Biomed. Opt. Express 11, 1851-1863 (2020).
Multicontrast nonlinear microscopy with SHG and THG were used to image normal and cancerous human colon histology samples, and texture analysis was applied to investigate the changes in collagen structure occurring during carcinogenesis.
Wide-field Polarization-resolved Second-Harmonic Generation microscopy is a label-free imaging technique which highlights molecular organization of collagenous tissues, enabling high-throughput quantitative biomedical imaging and cancer diagnostics.
Polarimetric second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy study of collagen in
cancerous and normal tissues showed the differences in SHG intensity, susceptibility ratio R and
fiber orientation distribution suggesting a modified collagen structure.
A polarimetric third-harmonic generation microscopy based on nonlinear Stokes-Mueller polarimetry theory is presented. All eight observable χ(3) tensor components of a β-carotene crystallite are extracted and a chiral component is identified.
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