Terahertz anisotropy in fascia and lean meat tissues

Hongting Xiong; Hongyan Sun; Jiangping Zhou; Haotian Li; Hao Zhang; Shaojie Liu; Jiahua Cai; Lin Feng; Jungang Miao; Sai Chen; Xiaojun Wu

doi:10.1364/BOE.454338

Terahertz anisotropy in fascia and lean meat tissues

Biomed Opt Express. 2022 Apr 4;13(5):2605-2615. doi: 10.1364/BOE.454338. eCollection 2022 May 1.

Authors

Hongting Xiong¹, Hongyan Sun², Jiangping Zhou¹, Haotian Li³, Hao Zhang³, Shaojie Liu⁴, Jiahua Cai¹, Lin Feng², Jungang Miao¹, Sai Chen¹, Xiaojun Wu¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Beihang University, 37 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100191, China.
² School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University (Shahe Campus), 9 Nansan Street, Shahe Higher Education Park, Changping, Beijing 102206, China.
³ SHENYUAN Honors College, Beihang University, 37 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
⁴ School of Cyber Science and Technology, Beihang University, 37 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100191, China.

Abstract

Terahertz (THz) spectroscopy provides multifaceted capabilities for observing low-energy responses of macromolecules, cells and tissues, understanding THz biophysical effects, and expecting to realize the application of THz technology in biomedicine. However, its high-frequency characteristics of limited penetration depth and strong absorption of water in the body comparable to microwaves are impeding the proliferation of THz spectroscopy. Here we show that THz spectroscopy makes possible the observation of THz anisotropy phenomena for the first time in fascia and lean tissue. Through optical microscopy, we infer that the microscopic mechanism of THz anisotropy comes from the periodic stripe structure of the biological tissue. The above related experimental findings may be expected to promote the application of THz technology in biomedicine.