Characterization of human coronary atherosclerotic plaque using spectrum- and time-resolved multiphoton microscopy

摘要

Cardiovascular disease, especially coronary heart disease (CHD) caused by coronary atherosclerosis, has been a leadingcause of death world-wide. Traditional methods of diagnosing CHD, including coronary CT angiography andhistopathological examination, are limited either by the low image resolution or time-consuming sample preparation.Spectrum- and time-resolved multiphoton microscopy has the potential to circumvent this problem because it can not onlyinterrogate the three-dimensional structure of coronary arterial intima but also reveal its biochemical components at subcellularresolution. However, its clinical utility hasn’t been thoroughly assessed. Here, we adopted a spectrum- and timeresolvedmultiphoton microscope to characterize unstained human coronary atherosclerotic plaque ex vivo. According tothe fluorescence spectra, the collagen fibers and elastic fibers in the coronary arterial intima can be separated clearly. Wealso analyzed the changes in the relative content of collagen fibers and elastic fibers by calculating the ratio of these twokinds of fibers in normal and diseased coronary arterial wall and found that the coronary atherosclerotic plaque regionshas a higher ratio compared to that of normal tissue. Finally, we assessed the biochemical variations in coronaryatherosclerotic tissues by measuring the fluorescence lifetime and found a lower mean fluorescence lifetime in coronaryatherosclerotic plaque. This study indicates that the spectrum- and time-resolved multiphoton microscopy has the potentialto distinguish atherosclerotic plaque on the coronary arterial wall from normal tissues.