Open AccessAutomated epidermal thickness quantification of in vitro human skin equivalents using optical coherence tomography
Author(s) -
Martina M. Sanchez,
Danielle N Orneles,
B Hyle Park,
Joshua T. Morgan
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
biotechniques/biotechniques
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.617
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1940-9818
pISSN - 0736-6205
DOI - 10.2144/btn-2021-0123
Subject(s) - optical coherence tomography , biomedical engineering , human skin , in vivo , in vitro , pathology , computer science , materials science , medicine , biology , radiology , biochemistry , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology
Human skin equivalents (HSEs) are in vitro models of human skin. They are used to study skin development, diseases, wound healing and toxicity. The gold standard of analysis is histological sectioning, which both limits three-dimensional assessment of the tissue and prevents live culture monitoring. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has previously been used to visualize in vivo human skin and in vitro models. OCT is noninvasive and enables real-time volumetric analysis of HSEs. The techniques presented here demonstrate the use of OCT imaging to track HSE epidermal thickness over 8 weeks of culture and improve upon previous processing of OCT images by presenting algorithms that automatically quantify epidermal thickness. Through volumetric automated analysis, HSE morphology can be accurately tracked in real time.