Swept source optical coherence tomography for radiation-enhanced hepatocellular carcinoma cell invasion imaging

Abstract

In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of using swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) to monitor the enhancement of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell invasiveness by radiation. SS-OCT images were acquired and recorded to obtain three-dimensional datasets at discrete time points of 12, 24 and 48 h after irradiating HepG2 cells with 7.5 Gy. The cell migration distance in three-dimensional tissue models was quantified from images of radiation-induced and sham-irradiated cells, and this method was compared with the conventional Boyden chamber assay conducted at the same time points. SS-OCT measurements show that most cells were found near the gel surface, but a few were much deeper. Among those HCC cells with a high degree of migration capability, the mean migration distances at 24 h and 48 h were significantly greater for irradiated cells than for sham-irradiated cells (0.7 +/- 0.23 mm versus 0.65 +/- 0.26 mm at 24 h, P = 0.019 and 0.84 +/- 0.30 mm versus 0.65 +/- 0.524 mm at 48 h, P = 0.009). The results of radiation-enhanced invasion in HCC cells obtained by the non-invasive, quantitative SS-OCT method were consistent with those obtained using the traditional assay for measuring biological invasion.

Swept-source optical coherence tomography of lower limb wound healing with histopathological correlation

“…Accordingly, SS-OCT finds an appropriate choice in tomographic imaging of cutaneous wounds because it can generate a high-speed depth profile (up to 2 mm) of the healing bed with micron-level resolution at a sweeping rate of laser with an optimum coherence length of 5-6 mm. 9,10 In the description of an OCT image, based on relative signal intensity, the term "lucidity" is used analogously to "echogenicity" of ultrasound images. Actually, less hydrated components of tissues reflect more light and are depicted as brighter areas (high lucidity) in contrast to darker areas (low lucidity) with high content of water or fat.…”