Label-Free Observation of Micrometric Inhomogeneity of Human Breast Cancer Cell Density Using Terahertz Near-Field Microscopy
Label-Free Observation of Micrometric Inhomogeneity of Human Breast Cancer Cell Density Using Terahertz Near-Field Microscopy
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DOI：
10.3390/photonics8050151
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发表时间：
2021-05
期刊：
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Kosuke Okada;Q. Cassar;H. Murakami;G. MacGrogan;J. P. Guillet;P. Mounaix;M. Tonouchi;K. Serita
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Kosuke Okada;Q. Cassar;H. Murakami;G. MacGrogan;J. P. Guillet;P. Mounaix;M. Tonouchi;K. Serita
太赫兹光成像作为一种新的无创/无染色癌组织活检方法正引起人们的极大关注。积极的是，太赫兹光已被证明对生物样品的细胞密度、水合含量和化学成分敏感。然而，太赫兹成像的空间分辨率通常限于几毫米，使得难以将该技术应用于对具有亚太赫兹波长尺度不均匀性的生物组织进行成像。为了克服分辨率问题，我们最近研制了一种空间分辨率为10 μm的太赫兹近场显微镜，命名为扫描点太赫兹源显微镜（SPoTS）。与传统的远场太赫兹技术相比，这种显微镜的特点是在亚太赫兹波长尺度上样品和点太赫兹源之间的近场相互作用。在此，为了更详细地评估太赫兹成像在癌症组织活检中的有用性，我们使用SPoTS显微镜对具有亚太赫兹波长尺度的癌细胞密度不均匀性的石蜡包埋的人乳腺癌切片进行了太赫兹近场成像。观察到的太赫兹图像成功地显示了乳腺浸润性导管癌中细胞密度的局部（~250 μm）不均匀性。这些结果可以绕过太赫兹在空间分辨率方面的限制，并可以进一步激励太赫兹光应用于癌症组织活检。
Terahertz-light imaging is attracting great attention as a new approach in non-invasive/nonstaining biopsy of cancerous tissues. Positively, terahertz light has been shown to be sensitive to the cell density, the hydration content, and the chemical composition of biological samples. However, the spatial resolution of terahertz imaging is typically limited to several millimeters, making it difficult to apply the technology to image biological tissues which have sub-terahertz-wavelength-scale inhomogeneity. For overcoming the resolution, we have recently developed a terahertz near-field microscope with a spatial resolution of 10 μm, named scanning point terahertz source (SPoTS) microscope. In contrast to conventional far-field terahertz techniques, this microscope features the near-field interactions between samples and point terahertz sources on a sub-terahertz-wavelength scale. Herein, to evaluate the usefulness of terahertz imaging in cancer tissue biopsy in greater detail, we performed terahertz near-field imaging of a paraffin-embedded human-breast-cancer section having sub-terahertz-wavelength-scale inhomogeneity of the cancer cell density using the SPoTS microscope. The observed terahertz images successfully visualized local (~250 μm) inhomogeneities of the cell density in breast invasive ductal carcinoma. These results may bypass the terahertz limitation in terms of spatial resolution and may further motivate the application of terahertz light to cancer tissue biopsy.