Quantitative differentiation of normal and scarred tissues using second ‐harmonic generation microscopy

Summary
The aim of this study was to differentiate normal and scarred hamster cheek pouch samples by applying a quantitative image analysis technique for determining collagen fiber direction and density in second‐harmonic generation microscopy images. This paper presents a collagen tissue analysis of scarred cheek pouches of four adult male Golden Syrian hamsters as an animal model for vocal fold scarring. One cheek pouch was scarred using an electrocautery unit and the other cheek was used as a control for each hamster. A home‐built upright microscope and a compact ultrafast fiber laser were used to acquire depth resolved epi‐collected second‐harmonic generation images of collagen fibers. To quantify the average fiber direction and fiber density in each image, we applied two‐dimensional Fourier analysis and intensity thresholding at five different locations for each control and scarred tissue sample, respectively. The resultant depth‐resolved average fiber direction variance for scarred hamster cheek pouches (0.61 ± 0.03) was significantly lower (p < 0.05) than control tissue (0.73 ± 0.04), indicating increased fiber alignment within the scar. Depth‐resolved average voxel density measurements indicated scarred tissues contained greater (p < 0.005) fiber density (0.72 ± 0.09) compared to controls (0.18 ± 0.03). In the present study, image analysis of both fiber alignment and density from depth‐resolved second‐harmonic genera...

Source: Scanning - April 24, 2016 Category: Radiology Authors: Murat Yildirim, Kyle P. Quinn, James B. Kobler, Steven M. Zeitels, Irene Georgakoudi, Adela Ben ‐Yakar Tags: Original Article Source Type: research