Dynamic micro functional analysis of biological tissue underneath the skin surface by high-speed optical coherence tomography

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Our research target is demonstration of a novel high-resolution optical coherence tomography for measurement of optical constant of biological tissue as well as prediction of aging of human skin.(1)A mode-locked Ti : sapphire laser (femto-second laser) is used as the light source of the high-resolution OCT. The coherence length of femto-second laser of 3.1μm was obtained by compensation of unbalance of chromatic dispersion of the low-coherence interferometer. Furthermore, supercontinuum light source was obtained by use of a photonic crystal fiber.(2)In the longer wavelength region, a novel broadband light was used as the light source of ultra high-resolution OCT. The coherence length was 3.5μm at the center wavelength of 1.3μm. In vitro high-resolution OCT image of biological tissue was obtained.(3)In order to obtain in-focus imaging, we used the focusing effect of the focusing lens of the sample. This method is called in-focus OCT, in which confocal optics is combined with OCT imaging system. The imaging depth of more than 2.5mm was successfully obtained.(4)In the experiment, micro-skin structures including the epidermis, dermis and stratum basale are clearly observed using high-resolution OCT. In vivo high-resolution OCT of human skin was also obtained. The thickness of epidermis as well as stratum basale decreased with aging.(5)We developed the OCT probe for diagnosis of human skin. In the experiment, the OCT imaging with the OCT probe can provide clear imaging of the epidermis, dermis and stratum basale, showing that our probe is useful for diagnosis of aging of human skin.