Development of a polarization imaging method to detect paraffin-embedded pathology tissues before applying other techniques

J Biophotonics. 2021 Jan;14(1):e202000288. doi: 10.1002/jbio.202000288. Epub 2020 Oct 5.

Abstract

The present article describes the development of a technique, applied to paraffin-embedded tissues, which uses three different wavelengths of monochromatic light (λ1 = 445 nm, λ2 = 540 nm and λ3 = 660 nm) for the measures of the degree of polarization, degree of linear polarization, degree of circular polarization and birefringence, all obtained from measurements of Stokes parameters by using polarized light. The goal of this study was to detect changes in developing embryonic mouse eye when pregnant mice fed diets without folic acid for variable periods compared with a healthy control group. We present a biomedical diagnostic technique based on polarized light detection applied to paraffin-embedded tissues to visualize the structural damage to aid us in the diagnosis before applying other techniques. Through this method, we can visualize and identify which parts of the tissue were altered with respect to the control group.

Keywords: Stokes parameters; biomedical optics; eye; imaging; polarization; tissue optics.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Birefringence
  • Mice
  • Paraffin Embedding*