Imaging of subchondral bone by optical coherence tomography upon optical clearing of articular cartilage

Alexander Bykov; Tapio Hautala; Matti Kinnunen; Alexey Popov; Sakari Karhula; Simo Saarakkala; Miika T Nieminen; Valery Tuchin; Igor Meglinski

doi:10.1002/jbio.201500130

Imaging of subchondral bone by optical coherence tomography upon optical clearing of articular cartilage

J Biophotonics. 2016 Mar;9(3):270-5. doi: 10.1002/jbio.201500130. Epub 2015 Jun 22.

Authors

Alexander Bykov^{1

2

3}, Tapio Hautala⁴, Matti Kinnunen⁴, Alexey Popov^{4

5

6}, Sakari Karhula^{7

8}, Simo Saarakkala^{7

8

9}, Miika T Nieminen^{8

9

10}, Valery Tuchin^{4

11

12}, Igor Meglinski^{4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Optoelectronics and Measurement Techniques Laboratory, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4500, 90014, Oulu, Finland. [email protected].
² ITMO University, 49 Kronverksky pr., Saint-Petersburg, 197101, Russia. [email protected].
³ Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Biophotonics, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, 634050, Russia. [email protected].
⁴ Optoelectronics and Measurement Techniques Laboratory, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4500, 90014, Oulu, Finland.
⁵ ITMO University, 49 Kronverksky pr., Saint-Petersburg, 197101, Russia.
⁶ Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Biophotonics, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, 634050, Russia.
⁷ Department of Medical Technology, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5000, 90014, Oulu, Finland.
⁸ Medical Research Center, University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital, P.O. Box 50, 90029, Oulu, Finland.
⁹ Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Oulu University Hospital, P.O. Box 50, 90029, Oulu, Finland.
¹⁰ Department of Radiology, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5000, 90014, Oulu, Finland.
¹¹ Research-Educational Institute of Optics and Biophotonics, Saratov State University, 410012, Saratov, Russia.
¹² Institute of Precise Mechanics and Control of Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences, 410028, Saratov, Russia.

PMID: 26097171
DOI: 10.1002/jbio.201500130

Abstract

Optical clearing is an effective method to reduce light scattering of biological tissues that provides significant enhancement of light penetration into the biological tissues making non-invasive diagnosis more feasible. In current report Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) in conjunction with optical clearing is applied for assessment of deep cartilage layers and cartilage-bone interface. The solution of Iohexol in water has been used as an optical clearing agent. The cartilage-bone boundary becomes visible after 15 min of optical clearing that enabling non-invasive estimation of its roughness: Sa = 10 ± 1 µm. The results show that for 0.9 mm thick cartilage optical clearing is stopped after 50 min with an increase of refractive index from 1.386 ± 0.008 to 1.510 ± 0.009. Current approach enables more reliable detection of arthroscopically inaccessible regions, including cartilage-bone boundary and subchondral bone, and potentially improves accuracy of the osteoarthritis diagnosis.

Keywords: Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT); articular cartilage; optical clearing; osteoarthritis; subchondral bone.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Bone and Bones*
Cartilage, Articular*
Cattle
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods*
Optical Phenomena*
Scattering, Radiation
Tomography, Optical Coherence / methods*