Analysis of the emissions from the corneas and aortas of rabbits subjected to high-cholesterol diets were performed by fluorescence microscopy using the Europium Chlortetracycline (EuCTc) complex as fluorescent probe. This complex presents absorption around 400 nm and emission around 615 nm with emission lifetime of a few microseconds, which differs from the lifetimes of biological tissues. The results show that EuCTc, present an intensified red fluorescence in the presence of LDL. Microscopic images obtained using the EuCTc probe suggests that LDL is initially deposited on the luminal surface of the blood vessel, before plaque formation. The red emission in luminal surface of the blood vessel is not observed in animals fed by 60 days with high cholesterol diet group, and the intima layer presents an increase in thickness and several red points that indicate the presence of macrophages and foam cells. Microscopic examination of 60 days high cholesterol diet rabbits corneas has shown that most red fluorescence occurred in the cornea epithelial cells or associated with the elongated profiles of keratocytes. The results showed that the EuCTc probe may be useful in fluorescence angioscopy and in clinical trials of corneal epithelial defects.

Date Published: 25 February 2013
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 8591, Optical Diagnostics and Sensing XIII: Toward Point-of-Care Diagnostics, 85910C (25 February 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2001546

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8591:
Optical Diagnostics and Sensing XIII: Toward Point-of-Care Diagnostics
Gerard L. Coté, Editor(s)