Epithelial biologists studying human skin diseases such as cancer formation and psoriasis commonly utilize mouse models to characterize the interplay among cells and intracellular signal transduction pathways that result in programmed changes in gene expression and cellular behaviors. The information obtained from animal models is useful only when phenotypic presentations of disease recapitulate those observed in humans. Excision of tissues followed by histochemical analysis is currently the primary means of establishing the morphological presentation. Non invasive imaging of animal models provides an alternate means to characterize tissue morphology associated with the disease of interest in vivo. While useful, the ability to perform in vivo imaging at different time points in the same tissue location has been a challenge. This information is key to understanding site specific changes as the imaged tissue can now be extracted and analyzed for mRNA expression. We present a method employing a micro-tattoo to guide optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging of ultraviolet induced inflammation over time in the same tissue locations.

Date Published: 26 February 2010
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 7573, Biomedical Applications of Light Scattering IV, 75730S (26 February 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.842570

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7573:
Biomedical Applications of Light Scattering IV
Adam P. Wax; Vadim Backman, Editor(s)