Abstract
Electrospun polycaprolactone:gelatin (PCL:GT) fibre scaffolds are widely employed in the field of tissue implants. Here, the orientation of fibres plays an important role in regard to implantation due to the impact on the mechanical properties. Likewise, the orientation of collagen fibres in skin tissue is relevant for dermatology. State-of-the-art fibre orientation measurement methods like electron microscopy are time consuming and destructive. In this work, we demonstrate polarimetry as a non-invasive approach and evaluate its potential by measuring the Mueller matrix (MM) of gelatin and collagen containing samples as simple skin tissue phantoms. We demonstrate that it is possible to determine the orientation of PCL:GT fibre scaffolds within one MM measurement. Furthermore, we determine the structural orientation in collagen film samples. Currently, the diagnosis of skin diseases is often performed by image analysis or histopathology respectively, which are either subjective or invasive. The method presented, here, provides an interesting alternative approach for such investigations. Our findings indicate that the orientation of collagen fibres within skin lesions might be detectable by MM measurements in the future, which is of interest for skin diagnostics, and will be further investigated during the next step.
Highlights
Non-invasive and fast measurement techniques are of interest for investigations in the life sciences, i.e., for medical diagnostics and tissue implant characterisation
Motivated by the described limitations of current approaches and to meet demands from dermatology, in this work, we investigate the potential of Mueller matrix (MM)-measurement to obtain information about orientations within collagen and gelatin containing structures
This led us to the conclusion that the angle-dependence of the remaining entries for the PCL/GE samples was due to the gelatin content in the fiber scaffolds
Summary
Non-invasive and fast measurement techniques are of interest for investigations in the life sciences, i.e., for medical diagnostics and tissue implant characterisation. Conventional hand-held dermatoscopes serve as essential non-invasive diagnostic tools for evaluating pigmented lesions, but are currently not suitable for further examination of inflamed skin. Flattening of the skin lesion while using the conventional dermatoscope leads to changes or even reduction of the blood circulation and affects the disease-related color of the corresponding skin site. To avoid direct skin contact during examination we developed a prototype for a non-contact, remote digital dermatoscope in previous work [1,2]. In an initial study we attempted to visualise skin inflammation of common inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis and lichen planus by non-contact remote digital dermoscopy [3]. We revealed promising first results regarding a visualisation of inflammatory changes within epidermal, i.e., upper, layers of the skin by non-contact remote dermoscopy. The system generated true-color images of the skin lesion [3]
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