Dynamic OCT monitoring and quantification of light penetration enhancement for normal, benign and cancerous human lung tissues at different concentrations of glycerol

Abstract

We have evaluated the dynamic effects of the analyte diffusion on the 1/e light penetration depths of normal, benign and cancerous human lung tissue in vitro, as well as have monitored and quantified the dynamic change in the light penetration depths of the mentioned human lung tissue after application of 25% and 50% glycerol solution, respectively. The light penetration depths of the analyte diffusion in the lung tissue are measured using the Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT). Experimental results show that the application of glycerol as a chemical agent can significantly enhance light penetration depths into the human normal lung (NL), lung benign granulomatosis (LBG) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) tissue. In-depth transport of the glycerol molecules in the NL, LBG and LSCC tissue at a lower glycerol concentration (25%) are faster than those at a higher glycerol concentration (50%), and the 1/e light penetration depths at a lower glycerol concentration (25%) are smaller than those at a higher glycerol concentration (50%), respectively. Their differences in the maximal 1/e light penetration depths of the NL, LBG and LSCC tissue at a higher and a lower glycerol concentrations were only 8.8%, 6.8% and 4.7%, respectively.