A fiber-optic approach for in vivo minimally-invasive study of tissue optical properties

摘要

Based on a fiber-optic approach, we present a fundamental in vivo study of optical properties and light transmission characteristics of single and multiple tissue layers and blood in a Sprague Dawley rat model. In our experiments, we utilize either coherent laser sources with various energy and spectral characteristics or incoherent light sources in a broadband spectral range covering the visible and near-infrared (from 400 nm to 1200 nm). The measurement techniques are based on a simple minimally invasive fiber-optic light delivery system that provides an effective method for homogeneously and precisely controlling the light irradiation of the tissue medium as well as being a highly sensitive detector of the tissue's scattered light. The delivery-sensor probes are placed into different tissue layers (skin, subcutaneous connective and deep connective tissue, back muscle, bone and spinal cord) and blood, and broadband spectral transmission characteristics of these media are measured in vivo. The transmission spectra are analyzed in order to determine the specificity of interaction of different tissues with light. The main goal is to determine the most effective coherent or incoherent light sources and their optimal parameters that might be used for minimally invasive therapeutic and optical diagnostics techniques.