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Multiphoton microscopy of intrinsic tissue emissions for cancer research
Author(s) -
Williams Rebecca M,
FleskenNikitin Andrea,
Nikitin Alexander Yu,
Zipfel Warren R
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a601
Subject(s) - pathology , microscopy , cancer , multiphoton fluorescence microscope , autofluorescence , fluorescence microscope , biology , medicine , biomedical engineering , optics , fluorescence , physics
Over the past decade multiphoton microscopy has enabled fluorescence imaging with subcellular resolution at depths into living specimens not previously possible. Nonlinear optical excitation of intrinsic tissue emissions such as NADH, flavins and retinoids and nonlinear scattering (primarily from collagen) enable extraction of histological‐like images without fixation, sectioning or staining of tissue. Development of strategies for use in cancer biology and clinical diagnostics has been promising, but still depends on resolving a number of issues. These include finding diagnostic criteria comparable to those obtained from routine histological imaging, and developing new ways to access target organs and tissues in living animals, and eventually humans. We are addressing these problems on three fronts. Working in three‐dimensional tissue culture models, transgenic mouse models of human cancers and human biopsies, we demonstrate that nonlinear fluorescence and second harmonic imaging may be extremely useful for disease diagnosis and for studies of early cancer progression. Development of multiphoton endoscopy and laparoscopy may lead to new clinical tools that will enhance our ability to detect cancer at the earliest stages.