Non-destructive characterization of adult zebrafish models using Jones matrix optical coherence tomography

Abstract

The zebrafish is a valuable vertebrate animal model in pre-clinical cancer research. A Jones matrix optical coherence tomography (JM-OCT) prototype operating at 1310 nm and an intensity-based spectral-domain OCT setup at 840 nm were utilized to investigate adult wildtype and a tumor-developing zebrafish model. Various anatomical features were characterized based on their inherent scattering and polarization signature. A motorized translation stage in combination with the JM-OCT prototype enabled large field-of-view imaging to investigate adult zebrafish in a non-destructive way. The diseased animals exhibited tumor-related abnormalities in the brain and near the eye region. The scatter intensity, the attenuation coefficients and local polarization parameters such as the birefringence and the degree of polarization uniformity were analyzed to quantify differences in tumor versus control regions. The proof-of-concept study in a limited number of animals revealed a significant decrease in birefringence in tumors found in the brain and near the eye compared to control regions. The presented work showed the potential of OCT and JM-OCT as non-destructive, high-resolution, and real-time imaging modalities for pre-clinical research based on zebrafish.

Longitudinal investigation of a xenograft tumor zebrafish model using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography

“…1 c,j), probably due to the pigmentation. Furthermore, low DOPU values were observed in the bottom region of most images, which arise from multiple scattering at deeper tissue regions 36 .…”

“…Literature has shown that healthy musculature in zebrafish exhibits increased birefringence values 33 . Further, a decrease in birefringence in diseased muscle tissue has been shown for murine and zebrafish models 36 , 38 , 39 .…”

“…Literature has shown that healthy musculature in zebrafish exhibits increased birefringence values 33 . Further, a decrease in birefringence in diseased muscle tissue has been shown for murine and zebrafish models 36,38,39 . www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Consistently, similar findings in scattering and polarization changes were observed in the second study, where the disruption of the muscle morphology and larger areas of lower birefringence values were observed on day 15 post-injection, see Fig.…”

“…4b. This increased scattering behavior might be caused by the more densely packed tumor mass in comparison to the low scattering muscle tissue 36 .…”

“…We utilized our depth-resolved polarization-sensitive Jones-matrix OCT (JM-OCT) prototype operating in the infrared wavelength region to investigate zebrafish at 8-days, 1, and 2-months post-fertilization and characterized scatter and polarization properties of various organs 35 . In another study conducted in post-mortem adult transgenic tumor-bearing zebrafish, we showed the possibility of an improved tumor detection, compared to utilizing only the intensity-based information, using the same JM-OCT prototype 36 .…”