Integration of an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system into an examination incubator to facilitate in vivo imaging of cardiovascular development in higher vertebrate embryos under stable physiological conditions

Happel, Christoph M.; Thrane, Lars; Thommes, Jan; Männer, Jörg; Yelbuz, T. Mesud

doi:10.1016/j.aanat.2011.04.006

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Also, OCT requires no contact with the embryo and is non-destructive, allowing for observations of the avian heart of the intact embryo on the yolk cultured in a dish or in ovo under physiological conditions. This allows longitudinal studies of the same embryo (Happel et al, 2011; Jenkins et al, 2012). …”

Section: The Biophotonic Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The avian system has been of great value in the analysis of cardiac function during development, because it is accessible for analysis by various tools without compromising the physiological state of the developing embryo (Jenkins et al, 2010a, 2012; Garita et al, 2011; Gu et al, 2011, 2012; Happel et al, 2011; Karunamuni et al, 2014). Placental animal models such as the mouse embryo can be cultured for a limited time in vitro , but their function is greatly compromised when the embryo is removed from its in utero environment.…”

Section: Application Of Biophotonic Tools To Study the Genesis Of Chdmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Capturing structure and function in an embryonic heart with biophotonic tools

Karunamuni

Ford

et al. 2014

Front. Physiol.

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Disturbed cardiac function at an early stage of development has been shown to correlate with cellular/molecular, structural as well as functional cardiac anomalies at later stages culminating in the congenital heart defects (CHDs) that present at birth. While our knowledge of cellular and molecular steps in cardiac development is growing rapidly, our understanding of the role of cardiovascular function in the embryo is still in an early phase. One reason for the scanty information in this area is that the tools to study early cardiac function are limited. Recently developed and adapted biophotonic tools may overcome some of the challenges of studying the tiny fragile beating heart. In this chapter, we describe and discuss our experience in developing and implementing biophotonic tools to study the role of function in heart development with emphasis on optical coherence tomography (OCT). OCT can be used for detailed structural and functional studies of the tubular and looping embryo heart under physiological conditions. The same heart can be rapidly and quantitatively phenotyped at early and again at later stages using OCT. When combined with other tools such as optical mapping (OM) and optical pacing (OP), OCT has the potential to reveal in spatial and temporal detail the biophysical changes that can impact mechanotransduction pathways. This information may provide better explanations for the etiology of the CHDs when interwoven with our understanding of morphogenesis and the molecular pathways that have been described to be involved. Future directions for advances in the creation and use of biophotonic tools are discussed.

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Section: The Biophotonic Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Application Of Biophotonic Tools To Study the Genesis Of Chdmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capturing structure and function in an embryonic heart with biophotonic tools

Karunamuni

Ford

et al. 2014

Front. Physiol.

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“…We, as well as others, have customized OCT technology to investigate the structure and function of the embryonic heart (Gu et al, ; Jenkins et al, ). Because OCT is noninvasive, this allows for longitudinal observations of hearts belonging to avian embryos that have been cultured in plastic culture dishes under physiological conditions (humidified, temperature‐controlled chamber) (Happel et al, ; Jenkins et al, ). To date, OCT studies of cardiac development have focused mostly on the early‐stage looping heart at a time when the cardiac cushions are still developing and when the outflow tract has not yet septated into its major branching arteries (Yelbuz et al, ,b; Jenkins et al, ,b; Davis et al, ; Larina et al, ; Rugonyi et al, ; Garita et al, ; Liu et al, ; Karunamuni et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using optical coherence tomography to rapidly phenotype and quantify congenital heart defects associated with prenatal alcohol exposure

Karunamuni

Doughman

et al. 2015

Developmental Dynamics

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Background The most commonly used method to analyze congenital heart defects involves serial sectioning and histology. However, this is often a time-consuming process where the quantification of cardiac defects can be difficult due to problems with accurate section registration. Here we demonstrate the advantages of using optical coherence tomography, a comparatively new and rising technology, to phenotype avian embryo hearts in a model of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome where a binge-like quantity of alcohol/ethanol was introduced at gastrulation. Results The rapid, consistent imaging protocols allowed for the immediate identification of cardiac anomalies, including ventricular septal defects and misaligned/missing vessels. Interventricular septum thicknesses and vessel diameters for three of the five outflow arteries were also significantly reduced. Outflow and atrio-ventricular valves were segmented using image processing software and had significantly reduced volumes compared to controls. This is the first study to our knowledge that has 3-D reconstructed the late-stage cardiac valves in precise detail in order to examine their morphology and dimensions. Conclusion We believe therefore that OCT, with its ability to rapidly image and quantify tiny embryonic structures in high resolution, will serve as an excellent and cost-effective preliminary screening tool for developmental biologists working with a variety of experimental/disease models.

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“…4D Doppler OCT image-sets of three individual embryonic hearts were acquired while they were incubated in an environmental chamber under physiological conditions [32,33]. Using image-based retrospective gating [26,34,35] we obtained 4D image data sets containing both structural and Doppler flow information.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

4D shear stress maps of the developing heart using Doppler optical coherence tomography

Peterson

Jenkins

et al. 2012

Biomed. Opt. Express

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Accurate imaging and measurement of hemodynamic forces is vital for investigating how physical forces acting on the embryonic heart are transduced and influence developmental pathways. Of particular importance is blood flow-induced shear stress, which influences gene expression by endothelial cells and potentially leads to congenital heart defects through abnormal heart looping, septation, and valvulogenesis. However no imaging tool has been available to measure shear stress on the endocardium volumetrically and dynamically. Using 4D structural and Doppler OCT imaging, we are able to accurately measure the blood flow in the heart tube in vivo and to map endocardial shear stress throughout the heart cycle under physiological conditions for the first time. These measurements of the shear stress patterns will enable precise titration of experimental perturbations and accurate correlation of shear with the expression of molecules critical to heart development.

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Integration of an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system into an examination incubator to facilitate in vivo imaging of cardiovascular development in higher vertebrate embryos under stable physiological conditions

Cited by 8 publications

References 62 publications

Capturing structure and function in an embryonic heart with biophotonic tools

Capturing structure and function in an embryonic heart with biophotonic tools

Using optical coherence tomography to rapidly phenotype and quantify congenital heart defects associated with prenatal alcohol exposure

4D shear stress maps of the developing heart using Doppler optical coherence tomography

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