Kang Suyeon, Kim Kyeong Ryeol, Cho Minju, Hwang Joonseup, Yang Joon-Mo, Kim Jun Ki, Choi Woo June
Department of Convergence Medicine, Brain Korea 21 Project, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul 05505, Republic of Korea.
Center for Photoacoustic Medical Instruments, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan 44919, Republic of Korea.
Biosensors (Basel). 2025 Aug 9;15(8):522. doi: 10.3390/bios15080522.
Full-field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT) is a high-resolution interferometric imaging technique that enables label-free visualization of cellular structural changes. In this study, we employed a custom-built time-domain FF-OCT system to monitor morphological alterations in HeLa cells undergoing doxorubicin-induced apoptosis and ethanol-induced necrosis at the single-cell level. Apoptotic cells showed characteristic features such as echinoid spine formation, cell contraction, membrane blebbing, and filopodia reorganization. In contrast, necrotic cells exhibited rapid membrane rupture, intracellular content leakage, and abrupt loss of adhesion structure. These dynamic events were visualized using high-resolution tomography and three-dimensional surface topography mapping. Furthermore, FF-OCT-based interference reflection microscopy (IRM)-like imaging effectively highlighted changes in cell-substrate adhesion and cell boundary integrity during the cell death process. Our findings suggest that FF-OCT is a powerful imaging platform for distinguishing cell death pathways and assessing dynamic cellular states, with potential applications in drug toxicity testing, anticancer therapy evaluation, and regenerative medicine.
全场光学相干断层扫描（FF-OCT）是一种高分辨率干涉成像技术，能够对细胞结构变化进行无标记可视化。在本研究中，我们使用定制的时域FF-OCT系统在单细胞水平监测经阿霉素诱导凋亡和乙醇诱导坏死的HeLa细胞的形态变化。凋亡细胞表现出诸如海胆状棘突形成、细胞收缩、膜泡化和丝状伪足重组等特征。相比之下，坏死细胞表现出快速的膜破裂、细胞内内容物泄漏以及粘附结构的突然丧失。这些动态事件通过高分辨率断层扫描和三维表面形貌映射得以可视化。此外，基于FF-OCT的类似干涉反射显微镜（IRM）的成像有效地突出了细胞死亡过程中细胞-基质粘附和细胞边界完整性的变化。我们的研究结果表明，FF-OCT是区分细胞死亡途径和评估动态细胞状态的强大成像平台，在药物毒性测试、抗癌治疗评估和再生医学中具有潜在应用。
