Incoherent and coherent microscopies for analysis of tissue structure and function.

摘要

The optical microscope is a powerful tool for imaging thing specimen with sub-micron resolution. Optical sectioning in thick specimen becomes possible when the first example of the scanning confocal microscope was reported in 1951. Fluorescence microscopy is one of the most important application areas of scanning confocal optical microscopy in biology and medicine. In this thesis, a laser scanning confocal fluorescence microscope was used to study the structure and function of human colonic tissues. Emitted tissue autofluorescence, under near UV excitation, has been proposed as a potential signal for neoplasm diagnosis. In addition, a new real time, non-invasive sub-micron imaging modality, called optical coherence microscopy (OCM), was developed and described in this thesis as well. OCM permits imaging deep into highly scattering media and provides a new type of optical biopsy.