3-D optical imaging of the in vivo organ of Corti motion at a sub-nanometer scale

描述（由申请人提供）：低光学相干断层扫描（OCT）已用于对生物组织成像，并且是商业上可获得的用于对人眼的透镜和细胞结构成像的显微镜的理论基础。基于OCT的干涉仪还没有生产出来，但具有独特的特性，可用于内耳组织和细胞的振动测量。我们建议开发一种OCT干涉仪，该干涉仪能够对活体Corti器官进行成像，并在3维空间中测量其细胞运动，最小振动为0.1 nm。OCT干涉测量的基本概念已经被证明对Corti器官的微观力学是有用的。该提议实现了允许所需的更高分辨率的技术进步，所述更高分辨率使得能够在细胞水平上确定器官位移矢量的方向和相位。通过使用飞秒脉冲激光，该仪器将具有约3立方微米的成像和振动分辨率。这是通过结合一种新的相敏OCT方法来实现的，该方法允许使用该仪器来测试覆膜在横向（径向）方向上机械共振的假设。对于包括共振在内的盖膜的体内力学的了解，将使关于该器官如何实现内耳毛细胞静纤毛的有效机械刺激以及随后哺乳动物听觉的显著灵敏度的推测搁置了世纪。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Low optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been used to image biological tissue and is the theoretical basis of microscopes that are commercially available to image the lens and cellular structures of the human eye. Interferometers based on OCT have not been produced but have unique properties useful for vibration measurements of the tissues and cells of the inner ear. We propose to develop an OCT interferometer that has the ability to both image the living organ of Corti and measure its cellular motion in 3-dimensions down to a vibration as small as 0.1 nm. The basic concept of OCT interferometry has already proven usefulness for the micromechanics of the organ of Corti. This proposal implements technical advances that permit needed higher resolution that enables determination of the direction and phase of the organ displacement vector at the cellular level. The instrument will have an imaging and vibration resolution of about 3 cubic micrometers through the use of a femtosecond pulsed laser. This is accomplished by incorporation of a novel phase-sensitive OCT approach allowing the instrument to be used to test the hypothesis that the tectorial membrane is mechanically resonant in the lateral (radial) direction. Knowledge of the in vivo mechanics of the tectorial membrane, including resonance, will set to rest a quarter century of conjecture on how the organ achieves the efficient mechanical stimulation of the inner ear hair cell stereocilia and the subsequent remarkable sensitivity of mammalian hearing.