Abstract

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a promising optical microscopy technique which enables ultrahigh-resolution, spectroscopic, in vivo imaging in transparent and non-transparent biological specimens. This is achieved by exploiting the short temporal coherence of ultrabroad bandwidth light sources to image morphological features at subcellular resolution at depths beyond that of conventional bright-field and confocal microscopes. Extraction of spatially resolved spectroscopic information is feasible to improve image contrast and to obtain functional or biochemical properties of the investigated tissue. The potential for using OCT to image the morphological expression of genes involved in normal and abnormal development has been shown in common developmental biology animal models. In vivo imaging of single cell morphology, mitosis, and migration, as well as preliminary spectroscopic imaging, is demonstrated.

© 2000 Optical Society of America