To determine whether second harmonic generation (SHG) can be used as a novel and improved label-free technique for detection of collagen deposition in the heart. To verify whether SHG will allow accurate quantification of altered collagen deposition in diseased hearts following hypertrophic remodelling. Minimally invasive transverse aortic banding (MTAB) of mouse hearts was used to generate a reproducible model of cardiac hypertrophy. Physiological and functional assessment of hypertrophic development was performed using echocardiography and post-mortem analysis of remodelled hearts. Cardiac fibroblasts were isolated from sham-operated and hypertrophied hearts and proliferation rates compared. Multi-photon laser scanning microscopy was used to capture both two-photon excited autofluorescence (TPEF) and SHG images simultaneously in two channels. TPEF images were subtracted from SHG images and the resulting signal intensities from ventricular tissue sections were calculated. Traditional picrosirius red staining was used to verify the suitability of the SHG application. MTAB surgery induced significant hypertrophic remodelling and increased cardiac fibroblast proliferation. A significant increase in the density of collagen fibres between hypertrophic and control tissues (p < 0.05) was evident using SHG. Similar increases and patterns of staining were observed using parallel traditional picrosirius red staining of collagen. Label-free SHG microscopy provides a new alternative method for quantifying collagen deposition in fibrotic hearts.

Encapsulation of EGCG in transferrin-bearing vesicles is a promising therapeutic strategy.

We report three-photon laser scanning microscopy (3PLSM) using a bi-directional pumped optical parametric oscillator (OPO) with signal wavelength output at λ= 1500 nm. This novel laser was used to overcome the high optical loss in the infrared spectral region observed in laser scanning microscopes and objective lenses that renders them otherwise difficult to use for imaging. To test our system, we performed 3PLSM auto-fluorescence imaging of live plant cells at λ= 1500 nm, specifically Spirogyra, and compared performance with two-photon excitation (2PLSM) imaging using a femtosecond pulsed Ti:Sapphire laser at λ= 780 nm. Analysis of cell viability based on cytoplasmic organelle streaming and structural changes of cells revealed that at similar peak powers, 2PLSM caused gross cell damage after 5 min but 3PLSM showed little or no interference with cell function after 15 min. The λ= 1500 nm OPO is thus shown to be a practical laser source for live cell imaging.

SummaryWe report a method for characterizing the focussing laser beam exiting the objective in a laser scanning microscope. This method provides the size of the optical focus, the divergence of the beam, the ellipticity and the astigmatism. We use a microscopic‐scale knife edge in the form of a simple transmission electron microscopy grid attached to a glass microscope slide, and a light‐collecting optical fibre and photodiode underneath the specimen. By scanning the laser spot from a reflective to a transmitting part of the grid, a beam profile in the form of an error function can be obtained and by repeating this with the knife edge at different axial positions relative to the beam waist, the divergence and astigmatism of the postobjective laser beam can be obtained. The measured divergence can be used to quantify how much of the full numerical aperture of the lens is used in practice. We present data of the beam radius, beam divergence, ellipticity and astigmatism obtained with low (0.15, 0.7) and high (1.3) numerical aperture lenses and lasers commonly used in confocal and multiphoton laser scanning microscopy. Our knife‐edge method has several advantages over alternative knife‐edge methods used in microscopy including that the knife edge is easy to prepare, that the beam can be characterized also directly under a cover slip, as necessary to reduce spherical aberrations for objectives designed to be used with a cover slip, and it is suitable for use with commercial laser scanning microscopes where access to the laser beam can be limited.

Periodically poled crystalline materials are extremely attractive for processes such as second harmonic generation and optical parametric generation due to their very high conversion efficiency. For optimal performance, fabrication of poled regions with sub-micron tolerance is required. In this paper we introduce multi-photon laser scanning luminescence microscopy as a powerful minimally-invasive measurement technique which provides information about internal device structure with high spatial resolution that cannot be easily obtained with existing methods. A comparative study of confocal and multi-photon imaging of periodically poled crystalline materials is also performed.