Feng Ting, Ge Yuxiang, Xie Yejing, Xie Weiya, Liu Chengcheng, Li Lan, Ta Dean, Jiang Qing, Cheng Qian
School of Electronic and Optical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China.
Department of Sports Medicine and Adult Reconstructive Surgery, Drum Tower Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, Jiangsu, China.
Photoacoustics. 2021 Aug 26;24:100296. doi: 10.1016/j.pacs.2021.100296. eCollection 2021 Dec.
Collagen is an important biomarker of osteoporosis progression. Noninvasive, multispectral, photoacoustic (PA) techniques use pulsed laser light to induce PA signals to facilitate the visualization of chemical components that are strongly related to tissue health. In this study, the feasibility of multi-wavelength PA (MWPA) measurement of the collagen in bone, using the wavelength range of 1300-1800 nm, was investigated. First, the feasibility of this approach for detecting the collagen content of bone was demonstrated by means of numerical simulation. Then, ex vivo experiments were conducted on both animal and human bone specimens with different bone densities using the MWPA method. The relative collagen content was extracted and compared with the results of micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) and histology. The results showed that the "relative collagen content" parameter obtained using the MWPA approach correlated well with the bone volume ratio obtained from micro-CT images and histological analysis results. This study highlights the potential of the proposed PA technique for determining the collagen content of bones as a biomarker for bone health assessment.
胶原蛋白是骨质疏松症进展的重要生物标志物。非侵入性多光谱光声（PA）技术使用脉冲激光诱导光声信号，以促进与组织健康密切相关的化学成分的可视化。在本研究中，研究了使用1300 - 1800 nm波长范围对骨中胶原蛋白进行多波长光声（MWPA）测量的可行性。首先，通过数值模拟证明了该方法检测骨胶原蛋白含量的可行性。然后，使用MWPA方法对不同骨密度的动物和人类骨标本进行了离体实验。提取相对胶原蛋白含量，并与微型计算机断层扫描（micro-CT）和组织学结果进行比较。结果表明，使用MWPA方法获得的“相对胶原蛋白含量”参数与从micro-CT图像和组织学分析结果获得的骨体积比密切相关。本研究突出了所提出的光声技术作为骨健康评估生物标志物来测定骨胶原蛋白含量的潜力。
