Narawane Amit, Trout Robert, Viehland Christian, Kuo Anthony N, Vajzovic Lejla, Dhalla Al-Hafeez, Toth Cynthia A
Duke University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Durham, North Carolina, United States.
Duke University Medical Center, Department of Ophthalmology, Durham, North Carolina, United States.
J Biomed Opt. 2024 Dec;29(12):120501. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.29.12.120501. Epub 2024 Dec 9.
Imaging deep structures with optical coherence tomography (OCT) is difficult in highly scattering biological tissue, such as the sclera. There is a need to visualize the suprachoroidal space and choroid through the sclera to study suprachoroidal drug delivery.
We aim to develop optical methods to image through the highly scattering sclera with a custom-built OCT system to visualize the suprachoroidal space and drug delivery within.
We developed a custom handheld OCT scanner to image the anterior segment and suprachoroidal space in eye models. Tartrazine (Yellow 5) solution, which has been shown to optically clear biological tissue in the visible regime, was tested as a clearing agent to optimize near infrared OCT imaging through the sclera.
Tartrazine dramatically increased OCT signal return from the deeper sclera and choroid and thus enabled visualization of the suprachoroidal drug delivery after transscleral injection.
We demonstrated successful optical clearing of the thick, porcine sclera with a compact handheld OCT system to image the suprachoroidal space. We believe there is broader potential to use optical clearing with handheld OCT for a variety of previously inaccessible, highly scattering tissue samples.
在高度散射的生物组织（如巩膜）中，使用光学相干断层扫描（OCT）对深部结构进行成像很困难。需要透过巩膜可视化脉络膜上腔和脉络膜，以研究脉络膜上腔给药。
我们旨在开发光学方法，通过定制的OCT系统对高度散射的巩膜进行成像，以可视化脉络膜上腔及其内的药物递送情况。
我们开发了一种定制的手持式OCT扫描仪，用于对眼模型中的眼前节和脉络膜上腔进行成像。柠檬黄（黄色5号）溶液在可见光范围内已被证明可使生物组织光学透明，我们将其作为一种透明剂进行测试，以优化通过巩膜的近红外OCT成像。
柠檬黄显著增加了来自深部巩膜和脉络膜的OCT信号返回，从而能够可视化经巩膜注射后的脉络膜上腔药物递送情况。
我们展示了使用紧凑型手持式OCT系统成功地对厚的猪巩膜进行光学透明处理，以成像脉络膜上腔。我们相信，将光学透明处理与手持式OCT结合使用，对于各种以前难以触及的高度散射组织样本具有更广泛的应用潜力。
