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Investigating in vivo airway wall mechanics during tidal breathing with optical coherence tomography.

ABSTRACT: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a nondestructive imaging technique offering high temporal and spatial resolution, which makes it a natural choice for assessing tissue mechanical properties. We have developed methods to mechanically analyze the compliance of the rabbit trachea in vivo using tissue deformations induced by tidal breathing, offering a unique tool to assess the behavior of the airways during their normal function. Four-hundred images were acquired during tidal breathing with a custom-built endoscopic OCT system. The surface of the tissue was extracted from a set of these images via image processing algorithms, filtered with a bandpass filter set at respiration frequency to remove cardiac and probe motion, and compared to ventilatory pressure to calculate wall compliance. These algorithms were tested on elastic phantoms to establish reliability and reproducibility. The mean tracheal wall compliance (in five animals) was 1.3±0.3×10(-5) (mm Pa)(-1). Unlike previous work evaluating airway mechanics, this new method is applicable in vivo, noncontact, and loads the trachea in a physiological manner. The technique may have applications in assessing airway mechanics in diseases such as asthma that are characterized by significant airway remodeling.

SUBMITTER: Robertson C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3210193 | biostudies-other | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:Examining and quantifying changes in airway morphology is critical for studying longitudinal pathogenesis and interventions in diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. Here we present fiber-optic optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a nondestructive technique to precisely and accurately measure the 2-dimensional cross-sectional areas of airway wall substructure divided into the mucosa (WAmuc), submucosa (WAsub), cartilage (WAcart), and the airway total wall area (WAt). Porcine lung airway specimens were dissected from freshly resected lung lobes (N = 10). Three-dimensional OCT imaging using a fiber-optic rotary-pullback probe was performed immediately on airways greater than 0.9 mm in diameter on the fresh airway specimens and subsequently on the same specimens post-formalin-fixation. The fixed specimens were serially sectioned and stained with H&E. OCT images carefully matched to selected sections stained with Movat's pentachrome demonstrated that OCT effectively identifies airway epithelium, lamina propria, and cartilage. Selected H&E sections were digitally scanned and airway total wall areas were measured. Traced measurements of WAmuc, WAsub, WAcart, and WAt from OCT images of fresh specimens by two independent observers found there were no significant differences (p>0.05) between the observer's measurements. The same wall area measurements from OCT images of formalin-fixed specimens found no significant differences for WAsub, WAcart and WAt, and a small but significant difference for WAmuc. Bland-Altman analysis indicated there were negligible biases between the observers for OCT wall area measurements in both fresh and formalin-fixed specimens. Bland-Altman analysis also indicated there was negligible bias between histology and OCT wall area measurements for both fresh and formalin-fixed specimens. We believe this study sets the groundwork for quantitatively monitoring pathogenesis and interventions in the airways using OCT.

Project description:BackgroundModern field pea breeding faces a significant challenge in selecting lines with strong stems that resist lodging. Traditional methods of assessing stem strength involve destructive mechanical tests on mature stems after natural senescence, such as measuring stem flexion, stem buckling or the thickness of dry stems when compressed, but these measurements may not correspond to the strength of stems in the living plant. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) can be used as a noncontact and nondestructive method to measure stem wall thickness in living plants by acquiring two- or three-dimensional images of living plant tissue.ResultsIn this proof-of-principle study, we demonstrated in vivo characterisation of stem wall thickness using OCT, with the measurement corrected for the refractive index of the stem tissue. This in vivo characterisation was achieved through real-time imaging of stems, with an acquisition rate of 13 milliseconds per two-dimensional, cross-sectional OCT image. We also acquired OCT images of excised stems and compared the accuracy of in vivo OCT measurements of stem wall thickness with ex vivo results for 10 plants each of two field pea cultivars, Dunwa and Kaspa. In vivo OCT measurements of stem wall thickness have an average percent error of - 3.1% when compared with ex vivo measurements. Additionally, we performed in vivo measurements of both stem wall thickness and stem width at various internode positions on the two cultivars. The results revealed that Dunwa had a uniform stem wall thickness across different internode positions, while Kaspa had a significantly negative slope of [Formula: see text]0.0198 mm/node. Both cultivars exhibited an increase in stem width along the internode positions; however, Dunwa had a rate of increase of 0.1844 mm/node, which is three times higher than that of Kaspa.ConclusionsOur study has demonstrated the efficacy of OCT for accurate measurement of the stem wall thickness of live field pea. Moreover, OCT shows that the trends of stem wall thickness and stem width along the internode positions are different for the two cultivars, Dunwa and Kaspa, potentially hinting at differences in their stem strength. This rapid, in vivo imaging method provides a useful tool for characterising physical traits critical in breeding cultivars that are resistant to lodging.

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Investigating in vivo airway wall mechanics during tidal breathing with optical coherence tomography.

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