Full-field functional optical angiography

Opt Lett. 2017 Feb 1;42(3):635-638. doi: 10.1364/OL.42.000635.

Abstract

We propose full-field functional optical angiography for a live biological specimen based on the absorption intensity fluctuation modulation (AIFM) effect. Because of the difference in absorption between red blood cells (RBCs) and the background tissue under low-coherence light illumination, the moving RBCs, which discontinuously pass though the capillary vessels, generate an AIFM effect. This effect offers high contrast of absorption imaging and sensitivity of low-coherence interference between RBCs and the background tissue. It is used to distinguish the signal of RBCs from that of the background tissue. The averaged and real-time modulation depths are computed to obtain full-field label-free optical angiography and measure blood flow velocity simultaneously. The AIFM method could potentially be applied to study the physiological mechanisms of blood circulation systems of near-transparent live biologic samples.

MeSH terms

  • Absorption, Physicochemical
  • Angiography / methods*
  • Animals
  • Chick Embryo
  • Erythrocytes / cytology
  • Optical Phenomena*