Analysis of dissected tissues with digital holographic microscopy: Quantification of inflammation mediated tissue alteration, influence of sample preparation, and reliability of numerical autofocusing

摘要

Quantitative phase imaging with digital holographic microscopy (DHM) allows label-free imaging of tissue sections and quantification of the spatial refractive index distribution, which is of interest for applications in digital pathology. We show that DHM allows quantitative imaging of different layers in unstained tissue samples by detection of refractive index changes. In addition, we evaluate the automated refocussing feature of DHM for application on dissected tissues and could achieve highly reproducible holographic autofocusing for unstained and moderately stained samples. Finally, it is demonstrated that in human ulcerative colitis patients the average tissue refractive index is reduced significantly in all parts of the inflamed colonic wall in comparison to patients in remission.