| Absorption dyes, such as hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) are widely used in clinical practice, while fluorophores and nanoparticles are more often used in biological research. Optical projection tomographic microscopy (OPTM) is a technique that can generate 3D image the same specimen in multi-modes, which can provide both morphological and molecular information. Depth of field (DOF) of a high numerical aperture (NA) objective is extended by scanning the focal plane through the sample in order to generate a projection image. Samples of cells or tissue are brought into the microscope through a microcapillary tube filled with optical index-matching gel. Multiple projection images are taken from different perspectives by rotating the tube. Computed tomography (CT) image reconstruction methods are applied to these projection data to reconstruct 3D structure of the sample. Image analysis based on these 3D images provides quantitative information for cancer diagnosis that is a clear improvement over conventional 2D image analysis. |
