Collagen provides tissue strength and structural integrity. Quantification of the orientated dispersion of collagen fibers is an important factor when studying the mechanical properties of the cervix. In this study, for the first time, a new method for rapid characterization of the collagen fiber orientations of the cervix using linearly polarized light colposcopy is presented. A total of 24 colposcopic images were captured using a cross-polarized imaging system with white LED light sources. In the preprocessing stage, the Red channel of the RGB image was chosen, which contains no information of the blood vessels because of the low-absorption of blood cells in the red region. OrientationJ, which is an ImageJ plug-in, was used to estimate the local orientation of the collagen fibers. The result shows that in the nonpregnant cervix, the middle zone (Zone 2) has circumferentially aligned collagen fibers while the inner zone (Zone 1) has randomly arranged. The collagen fiber dispersion in Zone 2 is much smaller than that in Zone 1 at all four quadrants region (anterior, posterior, left, and right quadrant). This new analysis technique could potentially combine with diagnostic tools to provide a quantitative platform of collagen fibers in the clinic.

衰老是引起主动脉硬化进而引发各种心血管疾病的主要独立风险因素。对主动脉增龄性改变进行定量评估有望为心血管疾病研究提供重要线索。采用二次谐波成像技术，结合三维灰度共生矩阵纹理分析算法，对不同周龄大鼠主动脉血管壁内外表面的胶原纤维进行了定量评估；提取出多种可量化表征主动脉增龄性改变的特征参数，从胶原纤维微结构角度揭示了主动脉增龄性变化规律。上述方法及提取出的特征参数有望为评估血管老化程度提供有力工具和重要参考指标，并进一步应用于与老化相关的心血管疾病的研究。

The cervix is a collagen-rich connective tissue that must remain closed during pregnancy while undergoing progressive remodeling in preparation for delivery, which begins before the onset of the preterm labor process. Therefore, it is important to resolve the changes of collagen fibers during cervical remodeling for the prevention of preterm labor. Herein, we assessed the spatial organization of collagen fibers in a three-dimensional (3D) context within cervical tissues of mice on day 3, 9, 12, 15 and 18 of gestation. We found that the 3D directional variance, a novel metric of alignment, was higher on day 9 than that on day 3 and then gradually decreased from day 9 to day 18. Compared with two-dimensional (2D) approach, a higher sensitivity was achieved from 3D analysis, highlighting the importance of truly 3D quantification. Moreover, the depth-dependent variation of 3D directional variance was investigated. By combining multiple 3D directional variance-derived metrics, a high level of classification accuracy was acquired in distinguishing different periods of pregnancy. These results demonstrate that 3D directional variance is sensitive to remodeling of collagen fibers within cervical tissues, shedding new light on highly-sensitive, early detection of preterm birth (PTB).

The tumor microenvironment (TME) is now recognized as an important participant of tumor progression. As the most abundant extracellular matrix component in TME, collagen plays an important role in tumor development. The imaging study of collagen morphological feature in TME is of great significance for understanding the state of tumor. Multiphoton microscopy (MPM), based on second harmonic generation (SHG) and two-photon excitation fluorescence (TPEF), can be used to monitor the morphological changes of biological tissues without labeling. In this study, we used MPM for large-scale imaging of early invasive breast cancer from the tumor center to normal tissues far from the tumor. We found that there were significant differences in collagen morphology between breast cancer tumor boundary, near tumor transition region and normal tissues far from the tumor. Furthermore, the morphological feature of eight collagen fibers was extracted to quantify the variation trend of collagen in three regions. These results may provide a new perspective for the optimal negative margin width of breast-conserving surgery and the understanding of tumor metastasis.

Confocal Raman microspectroscopy (CRM) with 633- and 785-nm excitation wavelengths combined with optical clearing (OC) technique was used for ex-vivo study of porcine skin in the Raman fingerprint region. The optical clearing has been performed on the skin samples by applying a mixture of glycerol and distilled water and a mixture of glycerol, distilled water and chemical penetration enhancer dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) during 30 min and 60 min of treatment. It was shown that the combined use of the optical clearing technique and CRM at 633nm allowed one to preserve the high probing depth, signal-to-noise ratio and spectral resolution simultaneously. Comparing the effect of different optical clearing agents on porcine skin showed that an optical clearing agent containing chemical penetration enhancer provides higher optical clearing efficiency. Also, an increase in treatment time allows to improve the optical clearing efficiency of both optical clearing agents. As a result of optical clearing, the detection of the amide-III spectral region indicating well-distinguishable structural differences between the type-I and type-IV collagens has been improved.

本试验通过二次谐波和偏振光影像技术检测烧烫伤小鼠瘢痕胶原纤维排列和密度的变化。在小鼠背部造烧烫伤深度模型, 模仿临床烧烫伤处理方法去除结痂, 6个月时通过二次谐波和液晶偏振光影像技术从活体皮肤水平面和离体组织矢状面检测烧烫伤小鼠瘢痕和瘢痕周围乳头层以及网状层胶原纤维排列和密度的变化。二次谐波成像结果显示, 正常皮肤乳头层和网状层胶原纤维呈随机排列的网状结构, 排列一致性低, 胶原纤维排列稀疏, 面密度少, 而瘢痕和瘢痕周围乳头层以及网状层胶原纤维排列一致性和面密度均明显增加。液晶偏振光影像技术结果表明, 与正常皮肤比较, 瘢痕和瘢痕周围乳头层以及网状层胶原纤维方位角变异程度明显降低, 相位差值增加。本试验通过二次谐波和偏振光影像技术发现, 瘢痕和瘢痕周围乳头层以及网状层胶原纤维的排列和密度均发生了改变, 而且二次谐波与液晶偏振光影像技术检测的结果趋势相同, 这为将来仅通过二次谐波成像技术无创鉴别瘢痕组织奠定了基础, 同时为在人体上诊断瘢痕和评估瘢痕治疗效果提供了方法。

构建合适的肿瘤细胞侵袭模型、开发肿瘤细胞侵袭的定量监测方法一直是癌症研究的热点。构建了厚度超过1 mm的三维肿瘤体外侵袭模型,利用搭建的超宽带谱域光学相干层析成像系统,检测了细胞的迁移和侵袭动态,从细胞迁移距离变化和基质材料分解两方面来表征肿瘤细胞的体外侵袭过程;通过光学相干层析成像散射界面的峰值变化来定量检测肿瘤细胞的迁移距离,结合三维图像量化基质材料的表面曲度、厚度、整体体积变化来表征肿瘤细胞侵袭过程的基质材料分解与变形信息。结果表明:光学相干层析成像技术检测到的肿瘤细胞侵袭引起的细胞团簇位置变化、基质材料形态改变与苏木精-伊红染色切片、激光共聚焦结果相匹配,验证了光学相干层析成像技术检测肿瘤细胞侵袭的可行性;通过设计不同营养梯度、不同pH微环境下的三维肿瘤模型,利用搭建的光学相干层析成像系统,准确地量化了不同时间、不同体外微环境下肿瘤细胞的迁移距离、基质材料表面曲度、厚度和整体体积变化。与苏木精-伊红染色、激光共聚焦方法相比,所提方法可以连续监测肿瘤细胞的侵袭过程,更全面地反映肿瘤细胞迁移和侵袭的机理。

Changes of the blood vessels and collagen are associated with the development of abnormal cervical cells. Recently, optical coherence tomography and Mueller polarization images were used to provide information regarding the presence of collagen fibers in the cervical tissue. However, most of these methods need a lot of time for image recording and are expensive. In addition, the general survey on the absorption and distribution characteristics of collagen and blood in the cervical is still lacking. In this study, we developed a colposcopy combining cross-polarized image and image processing algorithm with an e±cient analytical model to map the distribution of blood and collagen in the uterine. For this system's proof of concept, we captured and processed the case of cervical ectopy and Nabothian cyst. The results show that the distribution of blood and collagen maps matched with anatomical and physiological when compared with Lugol's iodine images. This technology has some advantages, such as low cost, real time, and can replace the use of acetic acid or Lugol's iodine in the future.