A linear algorithm for quantitative measure of corneal collagen fiber orientation using second harmonic generation microscopy

摘要

There is significant interest in the scientific community to develop a reliable and precise quantification of the direction of collagen fibers within the cornea in order to learn more about how collagen contributes to the cornea's shape and structure. Previous work has shown that quantification of these fibers' orientations is possible using Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) microscopy, a modality that utilizes the non-centrosymmetric properties of collagen to obtain details of their macromolecular structure. Many attempts at using SHG to this purpose result in whole volume approximations which do not take into account variations through the depth of the cornea. Additionaly, other algorithms have used non-linear processes which limit computation time and result in sensitivity to sample area, resolution, and illumination. We propose a linear method for quantification of collagen fiber orientation which utilizes the precise sectioning properties of SHG and is independent of non-linear artifacts to aid in further classification of cornea structure.