Gan Yu, Yao Wang, Myers Kristin M, Vink Joy Y, Wapner Ronald J, Hendon Christine P
Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA.
Biomed Opt Express. 2015 Mar 3;6(4):1090-108. doi: 10.1364/BOE.6.001090. eCollection 2015 Apr 1.
During pregnancy, the uterine cervix is the mechanical barrier that prevents delivery of a fetus. The underlying cervical collagen ultrastructure, which influences the overall mechanical properties of the cervix, plays a role in maintaining a successful pregnancy until term. Yet, not much is known about this collagen ultrastructure in pregnant and nonpregnant human tissue. We used optical coherence tomography to investigate the directionality and dispersion of collagen fiber bundles in the human cervix. An image analysis tool has been developed, combining a stitching method with a fiber orientation measurement, to study axially sliced cervix samples. This tool was used to analyze the ultrastructure of ex-vivo pregnant and non-pregnant hysterectomy tissue samples taken at the internal os, which is the region of the cervix adjacent to the uterus. With this tool, directionality maps of collagen fiber bundles and dispersion of collagen fiber orientation were analyzed. It was found that that the overall preferred directionality of the collagen fibers for both the nonpregnant and pregnant samples were circling around the inner cervical canal. Pregnant samples showed greater dispersion than non-pregnant samples. Lastly, we observed regional differences in collagen fiber dispersion. Fibers closer to the inner canal showed more dispersion than the fibers on the radial edges.
在怀孕期间，子宫颈是防止胎儿娩出的机械屏障。影响子宫颈整体力学性能的潜在宫颈胶原超微结构，在维持妊娠直至足月方面发挥着作用。然而，对于妊娠和非妊娠人体组织中的这种胶原超微结构，我们了解得并不多。我们使用光学相干断层扫描来研究人子宫颈中胶原纤维束的方向性和分散性。已开发出一种图像分析工具，将拼接方法与纤维取向测量相结合，用于研究轴向切片的子宫颈样本。该工具用于分析取自子宫颈内口（即子宫颈与子宫相邻的区域）的离体妊娠和非妊娠子宫切除组织样本的超微结构。利用该工具，分析了胶原纤维束的方向性图和胶原纤维取向的分散性。结果发现，非妊娠和妊娠样本中胶原纤维的总体优先方向性都是围绕宫颈内管呈环状。妊娠样本的分散性比非妊娠样本更大。最后，我们观察到胶原纤维分散存在区域差异。靠近内管的纤维比径向边缘的纤维分散性更大。
