Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University (Army Medical University), Department of Neuro, China.
Tianjin University, Institute of Laser and Optoelectronics, School of Precision Instrument and Optoe, China.
J Biomed Opt. 2018 Mar;23(3):1-7. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.23.3.036015.
We demonstrated that different degrees of experimental traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be differentiated clearly in fresh slices of rat brain tissues using transmission-type terahertz (THz) imaging system. The high absorption region in THz images corresponded well with the injured area in visible images and magnetic resonance imaging results. The THz image and absorption characteristics of dehydrated paraffin-embedded brain slices and the hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained microscopic images were investigated to account for the intrinsic differences in the THz images for the brain tissues suffered from different degrees of TBI and normal tissue aside from water. The THz absorption coefficients of rat brain tissues showed an increase in the aggravation of brain damage, particularly in the high-frequency range, whereas the cell density decreased as the order of mild, moderate, and severe TBI tissues compared with the normal tissue. Our results indicated that the different degrees of TBI were distinguishable owing to the different water contents and probable hematoma components distribution rather than intrinsic cell intensity. These promising results suggest that THz imaging has great potential as an alternative method for the fast diagnosis of TBI.
我们利用透射太赫兹（THz）成像系统证明，不同程度的实验性创伤性脑损伤（TBI）可以在新鲜的大鼠脑组织切片中清晰地区分。THz 图像中的高吸收区域与可见图像和磁共振成像结果中的损伤区域非常吻合。研究了脱水石蜡包埋脑切片的太赫兹图像和吸收特性，以及苏木精和伊红（H&E）染色的显微镜图像，以解释除水以外，不同程度 TBI 脑组织和正常组织的太赫兹图像内在差异。随着脑损伤程度的加重，大鼠脑组织的太赫兹吸收系数增加，尤其是在高频范围内，而细胞密度则随着轻度、中度和重度 TBI 组织与正常组织的顺序降低。我们的结果表明，不同程度的 TBI 是由于含水量和可能的血肿成分分布的不同而不是内在细胞强度的不同而区分开来的。这些有希望的结果表明，THz 成像作为 TBI 快速诊断的替代方法具有很大的潜力。
