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Lymphatic response to depilation‐induced inflammation in mouse ear assessed with label‐free optical lymphangiography
Author(s) -
Qin Wan,
Baran Utku,
Wang Ruikang
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
lasers in surgery and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1096-9101
pISSN - 0196-8092
DOI - 10.1002/lsm.22387
Subject(s) - lymphatic system , microangiography , lymphangiogenesis , medicine , optical coherence tomography , lymphatic vessel , pinna , pathology , lymphedema , microcirculation , integumentary system , anatomy , biomedical engineering , radiology , cancer , breast cancer , metastasis
Background and Objectives Optical microangiography (OMAG) is a noninvasive technique capable of imaging 3D microvasculature. OMAG‐based optical lymphangiography has been developed for 3D visualization of lymphatic vessels without the need for exogenous contrast agents. In this study, we utilize the optical lymphangiography to investigate dynamic changes in lymphatic response within skin tissue to depilation‐induced inflammation by using mouse ear as a simple tissue model. Materials and Methods A spectral‐domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) system is used in this study to acquire volumetric images of mouse ear. The system operates under the ultrahigh‐sensitive OMAG scanning protocol with five repetitions for each B frame. An improved adaptive‐threshold‐based method is proposed to segment lymphatic vessels from OCT microstructure images. Depilation is achieved by placing hair removal lotion on mouse ear pinna for 5 minutes. Three acquisitions are made before depilation, 3‐minute and 30‐minute post‐depilation, respectively. Results Right after the application of depilation lotion on the skin, we observe that the blind‐ended sacs of initial lymphatics are mainly visible in a specific area of the normal tissue. At 5 minutes, more collecting lymphatic vessels start to form, evidenced by their valve structure that only exists in collecting lymphatic vessels. The lymphangiogenesis is almost completed within 8 minutes in the inflammatory tissue. Conclusions Our experimental results demonstrate that the OMAG‐based optical lymphangiography has great potential to improve the understanding of lymphatic system in response to various physiological conditions, thus would benefit the development of effective therapeutics. Lasers Surg. Med. 47:669–676, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.