Polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography of melanin provides intrinsic contrast based on depolarization
Polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) is a functional extension of OCT. In addition to imaging based on tissue reflectivity, PS-OCT also enables depth-resolved mapping of sample polarization properties such as phase-retardation, birefringent axis orientation, Stokes vectors, a...
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Optical Society of America
2012
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| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3395490/ |
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pubmed-33954902012-07-17 Polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography of melanin provides intrinsic contrast based on depolarization Baumann, Bernhard Baumann, Stefan O. Konegger, Thomas Pircher, Michael Götzinger, Erich Schlanitz, Ferdinand Schütze, Christopher Sattmann, Harald Litschauer, Marco Schmidt-Erfurth, Ursula Hitzenberger, Christoph K. Optical Coherence Tomography Polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) is a functional extension of OCT. In addition to imaging based on tissue reflectivity, PS-OCT also enables depth-resolved mapping of sample polarization properties such as phase-retardation, birefringent axis orientation, Stokes vectors, and degree of polarization uniformity (DOPU). In this study, PS-OCT was used to investigate the polarization properties of melanin. In-vitro measurements in samples with varying melanin concentrations revealed polarization scrambling, i.e. depolarization of backscattered light. Polarization scrambling in the PS-OCT images was more pronounced for higher melanin concentrations and correlated with the concentration of the melanin granules in the phantoms. Moreover, in-vivo PS-OCT was performed in the retinas of normal subjects and individuals with albinism. Unlike in the normal eye, polarization scrambling in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) was less pronounced or even not observable in PS-OCT images of albinos. These results indicate that the depolarizing appearance of pigmented structures like, for instance, the RPE is likely to be caused by the melanin granules contained in these cells. Optical Society of America 2012-06-21 /pmc/articles/PMC3395490/ /pubmed/22808437 http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/BOE.3.001670 Text en ©2012 Optical Society of America http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License, which permits download and redistribution, provided that the original work is properly cited. This license restricts the article from being modified or used commercially. |
| repository_type |
Open Access Journal |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
US National Center for Biotechnology Information |
| building |
NCBI PubMed |
| collection |
Online Access |
| language |
English |
| format |
Online |
| author |
Baumann, Bernhard Baumann, Stefan O. Konegger, Thomas Pircher, Michael Götzinger, Erich Schlanitz, Ferdinand Schütze, Christopher Sattmann, Harald Litschauer, Marco Schmidt-Erfurth, Ursula Hitzenberger, Christoph K. |
| spellingShingle |
Baumann, Bernhard Baumann, Stefan O. Konegger, Thomas Pircher, Michael Götzinger, Erich Schlanitz, Ferdinand Schütze, Christopher Sattmann, Harald Litschauer, Marco Schmidt-Erfurth, Ursula Hitzenberger, Christoph K. Polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography of melanin provides intrinsic contrast based on depolarization |
| author_facet |
Baumann, Bernhard Baumann, Stefan O. Konegger, Thomas Pircher, Michael Götzinger, Erich Schlanitz, Ferdinand Schütze, Christopher Sattmann, Harald Litschauer, Marco Schmidt-Erfurth, Ursula Hitzenberger, Christoph K. |
| author_sort |
Baumann, Bernhard |
| title |
Polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography of melanin provides intrinsic contrast based on depolarization |
| title_short |
Polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography of melanin provides intrinsic contrast based on depolarization |
| title_full |
Polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography of melanin provides intrinsic contrast based on depolarization |
| title_fullStr |
Polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography of melanin provides intrinsic contrast based on depolarization |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography of melanin provides intrinsic contrast based on depolarization |
| title_sort |
polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography of melanin provides intrinsic contrast based on depolarization |
| description |
Polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) is a functional extension of OCT. In addition to imaging based on tissue reflectivity, PS-OCT also enables depth-resolved mapping of sample polarization properties such as phase-retardation, birefringent axis orientation, Stokes vectors, and degree of polarization uniformity (DOPU). In this study, PS-OCT was used to investigate the polarization properties of melanin. In-vitro measurements in samples with varying melanin concentrations revealed polarization scrambling, i.e. depolarization of backscattered light. Polarization scrambling in the PS-OCT images was more pronounced for higher melanin concentrations and correlated with the concentration of the melanin granules in the phantoms. Moreover, in-vivo PS-OCT was performed in the retinas of normal subjects and individuals with albinism. Unlike in the normal eye, polarization scrambling in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) was less pronounced or even not observable in PS-OCT images of albinos. These results indicate that the depolarizing appearance of pigmented structures like, for instance, the RPE is likely to be caused by the melanin granules contained in these cells. |
| publisher |
Optical Society of America |
| publishDate |
2012 |
| url |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3395490/ |
| _version_ |
1611542731425841152 |