Method and system of using intrinsic-based photosensing with high-speed line scanning for characterization of biological thick tissue including muscle

US8068899B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University · US

Inventors

• Michael E. Llewellyn · Palo Alto, US
• Robert J. Barretto · Garland, US
• Scott L. Delp · Stanford, US
• Mark J. Schnitzer · Summit, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 1, 2008
• Grant date: Nov 29, 2011
• Expiry date: Feb 19, 2030

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N21/6486
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

Biological thick tissue such as skeletal and cardiac muscle is imaged by inserting a probe into the tissue and scanning the tissue at a sufficiently fast rate to mitigate motion artifacts due to physiological motion. According to one example embodiment, such a probe is part of a system that is capable of reverse-direction high-resolution imaging without staining or otherwise introducing a foreign element used to generate or otherwise increase the sensed light. The probe includes a light generator for generating light pulses that are directed towards structures located within the thick tissue. The light pulses interact with intrinsic characteristics of the structures to generate a signal such as SHG or intrinsic fluorescence. Reliance on intrinsic characteristics of the structures is particularly useful for applications in which the introduction of foreign substances to the thick tissue is undesirable.