Imaging the noncentrosymmetric structural organization of tendon with Interferometric Second Harmonic Generation microscopy

Spectroscopic analysis of the sum-frequency response of the carbon-hydrogen stretching modes in collagen type I

We studied the origin of the vibrational signatures in the sum-frequency generation (SFG) spectrum of fibrillar collagen type I in the carbon-hydrogen stretching regime. For this purpose, we developed an all-reflective, laser-scanning SFG microscope with minimum chromatic aberrations and excellent retention of the polarization state of the incident beams. We performed detailed SFG measurements of aligned collagen fibers obtained from rat tail tendon, enabling the characterization of the magnitude and polarization-orientation dependence of individual tensor elements Xijk2 of collagen's nonlinear susceptibility. Using the three-dimensional atomic positions derived from published crystallographic data of collagen type I, we simulated its Xijk2 elements for the methylene stretching vibration and compared the predicted response with the experimental results. Our analysis revealed that the carbon-hydrogen stretching range of the SFG spectrum is dominated by symmetric stretching modes of methylene bridge groups on the pyrrolidine rings of the proline and hydroxyproline residues, giving rise to a dominant peak near 2942 cm-1 and a shoulder at 2917 cm-1. Weak asymmetric stretches of the methylene bridge group of glycine are observed in the region near 2870 cm-1, whereas asymmetric CH2-stretching modes on the pyrrolidine rings are found in the 2980 to 3030 cm-1 range. These findings help predict the protein's nonlinear optical properties from its crystal structure, thus establishing a connection between the protein structure and SFG spectroscopic measurements.

Polarimetric second harmonic generation microscopy of partially oriented fibers II: Imaging study

Polarimetric second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy imaging is employed to investigate the ultrastructural organization of biological and biomimetic partially oriented fibrillar structures. The linear polarization-in polarization-out SHG microscopy measurements are conducted with rat tail tendon, rabbit cornea, pig cartilage, and biomimetic meso-tetra(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphine (TPPS4) cylindrical aggregates, which represent different two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) configurations of C6 symmetry fibril structures in the focal volume (voxel) of the microscope. The polarization-in polarization-out imaging of rat tail tendon reveals that SHG intensity is affected by parallel/antiparallel arrangements of the fibers, and achiral (R) and chiral (C) susceptibility component ratio values change by tilting the tendon fibers out of image plane. The R ratio changes for the 2D crossing fibers observed in cornea tissue. The 3D crossing of fibers also affects R ratio in cartilage tissue. The distinctly different dependence of R on crossing and tilting of fibers is demonstrated in collagen and TPPS4 aggregates, due to the achiral molecular susceptibility ratio having values below and above 3, respectively. The polarimetric microscopy results correspond well with the analytical expressions of amplitude and R and C ratios dependence on the crossing angle of the fibers. The experimentally measured SHG intensity and R and C ratio maps are consistent with the computational modeling of various fiber configurations presented in the preceding article. The demonstrated SHG intensity and R and C ratio dependencies on fibril configurations provide the basis for interpreting polarimetric SHG microscopy images in terms of 3D ultrastructural organization of fibers in each voxel of the samples.

Second harmonic generation microscopy: a powerful tool for bio-imaging

Second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy is an important optical imaging technique in a variety of applications. This article describes the history and physical principles of SHG microscopy and its more advanced variants, as well as their strengths and weaknesses in biomedical applications. It also provides an overview of SHG and advanced SHG imaging in neuroscience and microtubule imaging and how these methods can aid in understanding microtubule formation, structuration, and involvement in neuronal function. Finally, we offer a perspective on the future of these methods and how technological advancements can help make SHG microscopy a more widely adopted imaging technique.

Quantification method to objectively evaluate the fibrous structural status of tendons based on polarization-sensitive OCT

Histological analysis is widely used to evaluate injured tendons; however, it has the limitation of being semi-quantitative. Hence, we developed a quantification method to objectively evaluate the fibrous structure of tendons, exhibiting the optical property of birefringence, using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT). We used a partial-rupture rat model in which the middle 0.75 cm of the Achilles tendon was cut with a blade. Rats were sacrificed at 2, 4 or 6 weeks after the injury, and PS-OCT and histological analyzes were performed. The PS-OCT phase retardation images and score well represented the structural changes of the injured tendon according to the wound healing state. Therefore, the proposed novel quantification method using PS-OCT can be used to evaluate the fibrous structural status of tendons.

Phase-Sensitive Vibrationally Resonant Sum-Frequency Generation Microscopy in Multiplex Configuration at 80 MHz Repetition Rate

Vibrationally resonant sum-frequency generation (VR SFG) microscopy is an advanced imaging technique that can map out the intensity contrast of infrared and Raman active vibrational modes with micron to submicron lateral resolution. To broaden its applications and to obtain a molecular level of understanding, further technical advancement is needed to enable high-speed measurements of VR SFG microspectra at every pixel. In this study, we demonstrate a new VR SFG hyperspectral imaging platform combined with an ultrafast laser system operated at a repetition rate of 80 MHz. The multiplex configuration with broadband mid-infrared pulses makes it possible to measure a single microspectrum of CH/CH₂ stretching modes in biological samples, such as starch granules and type I collagen tissue, with an exposure time of hundreds of milliseconds. Switching from the homodyne- to heterodyne-detected VR SFG hyperspectral imaging can be achieved by inserting a pair of optics into the beam path for local oscillator generation and delay time adjustment, which enables self-phase-stabilized spectral interferometry. We investigate the relationship between phase images of several different C-H modes and the relative orientation of collagen triple-helix in fibril bundles. The results show that the new multiplex VR SFG microscope operated at a high repetition rate is a powerful approach to probe the structural features and spatial arrangements of biological systems in detail.

Single-scan interferometric second harmonic generation microscopy using a kHz phase-scanner

In conventional laser-scanning microscopy, images are formed by acquiring the signal from pixel to pixel. Here, we report more than one order of magnitude reduction in acquisition time of Interferometric Second Harmonic Generation (I-SHG) by scanning the phase within each pixel, to characterize the relative polarity of various samples. Using an electro-optic phase-scanner, we show that the phase-shift patterns required for interferometry can be applied at each pixel during the scanning of the sample, allowing single-scan I-SHG (1S-ISHG) measurements. Requiring exposure times comparable to standard SHG intensity images, the additional phase information of the signal can thus be retrieved in parallel to its amplitude at the time-scale of seconds. Moreover, slower modulations can be used to enhance the precision of the phase measurement, without any spatial or temporal shift between interferograms, in contrast to conventional frame phase-shifting I-SHG (standard I-SHG). This continues to extend I-SHG to dynamical processes, and opens it to large-scale studies, as well as to imaging samples where the signal-to-noise ratio is an issue.

Complex Susceptibilities and Chiroptical Effects of Collagen Measured with Polarimetric Second-Harmonic Generation Microscopy

Nonlinear optical properties of collagen type-I are investigated in thin tissue sections of pig tendon as a research model using a complete polarimetric second-harmonic generation (P-SHG) microscopy technique called double Stokes-Mueller polarimetry (DSMP). Three complex-valued molecular susceptibility tensor component ratios are extracted. A significant retardance is observed between the chiral susceptibility component and the achiral components, while the achiral components appear to be in phase with each other. The DSMP formalism and microscopy measurements are further used to explain and experimentally validate the conditions required for SHG circular dichroism (SHG-CD) of collagen to occur. The SHG-CD can be observed with the microscope when: (i) the chiral second-order susceptibility tensor component has a non-zero value, (ii) a phase retardance is present between the chiral and achiral components of the second-order susceptibility tensor and (iii) the collagen fibres are tilted out of the image plane. Both positive and negative areas of SHG-CD are observed in microscopy images, which relates to the anti-parallel arrangement of collagen fibres in different fascicles of the tendon. The theoretical formalism and experimental validation of DSMP imaging technique opens new opportunities for ultrastructural characterisation of chiral molecules, in particular collagen, and provides basis for the interpretation of SHG-CD signals. The nonlinear imaging of chiroptical parameters offers new possibilities to further improve the diagnostic sensitivity and/or specificity of nonlinear label-free histopathology.

Implementation of artifact-free circular dichroism SHG imaging of collagen

Second harmonic generation (SHG) enables in situ imaging of fibrillar collagen architecture in connective tissues. Recently, Circular Dichroism SHG (CD-SHG) microscopy has been implemented to take advantage of collagen chirality to improve 3D visualization. It measures the normalized difference in the SHG signal obtained upon excitation by left versus right circular polarizations. However, CD-SHG signal is not well characterized yet, and quite different CD-SHG values are reported in the literature. Here, we identify two major artifacts that may occur in CD-SHG experiments and we demonstrate that thorough optimization and calibration of the experimental setup are required for CD-SHG imaging. Notably it requires a careful calibration of the incident circular polarizations and a perfect mechanical stabilization of the microscope stage. Finally, we successfully record CD-SHG images in human cornea sections and confirm that this technique efficiently reveals collagen fibrils oriented out of the focal plane.

Elimination of imaging artifacts in second harmonic generation microscopy using interferometry

Conventional second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy might not clearly reveal the structure of complex samples if the interference between all scatterers in the focal volume results in artefactual patterns. We report here the use of interferometric second harmonic generation (I-SHG) microscopy to efficiently remove these artifacts from SHG images. Interfaces between two regions of opposite polarity are considered because they are known to produce imaging artifacts in muscle for instance. As a model system, such interfaces are first studied in periodically-poled lithium niobate (PPLN), where an artefactual incoherent SH signal is obtained because of irregularities at the interfaces, that overshadow the sought-after coherent contribution. Using I-SHG allows to remove the incoherent part completely without any spatial filtering. Second, I-SHG is also proven to resolve the double-band pattern expected in muscle where standard SHG exhibits in some regions artefactual single-band patterns. In addition to removing the artifacts at the interfaces between antiparallel domains in both structures (PPLN and muscle), I-SHG also increases their visibility by up to a factor of 5. This demonstrates that I-SHG is a powerful technique to image biological samples at enhanced contrast while suppressing artifacts.

Collagen chirality and three-dimensional orientation studied with polarimetric second-harmonic generation microscopy

Polarization-dependent second-harmonic generation (P-SHG) microscopy is used to characterize molecular nonlinear optical properties of collagen and determine a three-dimensional (3D) orientation map of collagen fibers within a pig tendon. C₆ symmetry is used to determine the nonlinear susceptibility tensor components ratios in the molecular frame of reference χzzz2/χzxx2 and χxyz2/χzxx2 , where the latter is a newly extracted parameter from the P-SHG images and is related to the chiral structure of collagen. The χxyz2/χzxx2 is observed for collagen fibers tilted out of the image plane, and can have positive or negative values, revealing the relative polarity of collagen fibers within the tissue. The P-SHG imaging was performed using a linear polarization-in polarization-out (PIPO) method on thin sections of pig tendon cut at different angles. The nonlinear chiral properties of collagen can be used to construct the 3D organization of collagen in the tissue and determine the orientation-independent molecular susceptibility ratios of collagen fibers in the molecular frame of reference.

Effect of refractive index mismatch on forward-to-backward ratios in SHG imaging

Nonlinear optical imaging in the epi-direction is used to image subresolution features. We find that a refractive index mismatch between the object to be imaged and the background medium can change the far-field intensity image. As an example, we study second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy where the forward-to-backward (F/B) ratio is used to quantify subresolution features. We show both theoretically and experimentally that the inhomogeneous refractive index in collagen tendon tissue creates near-field effects, which can change the F/B ratio by ∼20%-25%, even though the effect is negligible for most of the individual fibrils in the tissue. This is caused by the sensitivity of the backward signal on phase matching conditions.

Phase-Modulated Degenerate Parametric Amplification Microscopy

Second-order nonlinear optical interactions, including second-harmonic generation (SHG) and sum-frequency generation (SFG), can reveal a wealth of information about chemical, electronic, and vibrational dynamics at the nanoscale. Here, we demonstrate a powerful and flexible new approach, called phase-modulated degenerate parametric amplification (DPA). The technique, which allows for facile retrieval of both the amplitude and phase of the second-order nonlinear optical response, has many advantages over conventional or heterodyne-detected SHG, including the flexibility to detect the signal at either the second harmonic or fundamental field wavelength. We demonstrate the capabilities of this approach by imaging multigrain flakes of single-layer MoS₂. We identify the absolute crystal orientation of each MoS₂ domain and resolve grain boundaries with high signal contrast and sub-diffraction-limited spatial resolution. This robust all-optical method can be used to characterize structure and dynamics in organic and inorganic systems, including biological tissue, soft materials, and metal and semiconductor nanostructures, and is particularly well-suited for imaging in media that are absorptive or highly scattering to visible and ultraviolet light.

Gouy phase shift measurement using interferometric second-harmonic generation

We report on a simple way to directly measure the Gouy phase shift of a strongly focused laser beam. This is accomplished by using a recent technique, namely, interferometric second-harmonic generation. We expect that this method will be of interest in a wide range of research fields, from high-harmonic and attosecond pulse generation to femtochemistry and nonlinear microscopy.

Probing microtubules polarity in mitotic spindles in situ using Interferometric Second Harmonic Generation Microscopy

The polarity of microtubules is thought to be involved in spindle assembly, cytokinesis or active molecular transport. However, its exact role remains poorly understood, mainly because of the challenge to measure microtubule polarity in intact cells. We report here the use of fast Interferometric Second Harmonic Generation microscopy to study the polarity of microtubules forming the mitotic spindles in a zebrafish embryo. This technique provides a powerful tool to study mitotic spindle formation and may be directly transferable for investigating the kinetics and function of microtubule polarity in other aspects of subcellular motility or in native tissues.

Modern trends in biophotonics for clinical diagnosis and therapy to solve unmet clinical needs

This contribution covers recent original research papers in the biophotonics field. The content is organized into main techniques such as multiphoton microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography and photoacoustic tomography, and their applications in the context of fluid, cell, tissue and skin diagnostics. Special attention is paid to vascular and blood flow diagnostics, photothermal and photodynamic therapy, tissue therapy, cell characterization, and biosensors for biomarker detection.

The Impact of Collagen Fibril Polarity on Second Harmonic Generation Microscopy

In this work, we report the implementation of interferometric second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy with femtosecond pulses. As a proof of concept, we imaged the phase distribution of SHG signal from the complex collagen architecture of juvenile equine growth cartilage. The results are analyzed in respect to numerical simulations to extract the relative orientation of collagen fibrils within the tissue. Our results reveal large domains of constant phase together with regions of quasi-random phase, which are correlated to respectively high- and low-intensity regions in the standard SHG images. A comparison with polarization-resolved SHG highlights the crucial role of relative fibril polarity in determining the SHG signal intensity. Indeed, it appears that even a well-organized noncentrosymmetric structure emits low SHG signal intensity if it has no predominant local polarity. This work illustrates how the complex architecture of noncentrosymmetric scatterers at the nanoscale governs the coherent building of SHG signal within the focal volume and is a key advance toward a complete understanding of the structural origin of SHG signals from tissues.

Probing the 3D structure of cornea-like collagen liquid crystals with polarization-resolved SHG microscopy

This work aims at characterizing the three-dimensional organization of liquid crystals composed of collagen, in order to determine the physico-chemical conditions leading to highly organized structures found in biological tissues such as cornea. To that end, we use second-harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy, since aligned collagen structures have been shown to exhibit intrinsic SHG signals. We combine polarization-resolved SHG experiments (P-SHG) with the theoretical derivation of the SHG signal of collagen molecules tilted with respect to the focal plane. Our P-SHG images exhibit striated patterns with variable contrast, as expected from our analytical and numerical calculations for plywood-like nematic structures similar to the ones found in the cornea. This study demonstrates the benefits of P-SHG microscopy for in situ characterization of highly organized biopolymers at micrometer scale, and the unique sensitivity of this nonlinear optical technique to the orientation of collagen molecules.

Fast interferometric second harmonic generation microscopy

We report the implementation of fast Interferometric Second Harmonic Generation (I-SHG) microscopy to study the polarity of non-centrosymmetric structures in biological tissues. Using a sample quartz plate, we calibrate the spatially varying phase shift introduced by the laser scanning system. Compensating this phase shift allows us to retrieve the correct phase distribution in periodically poled lithium niobate, used as a model sample. Finally, we used fast interferometric second harmonic generation microscopy to acquire phase images in tendon. Our results show that the method exposed here, using a laser scanning system, allows to recover the polarity of collagen fibrils, similarly to standard I-SHG (using a sample scanning system), but with an imaging time about 40 times shorter.

Analysis of forward and backward Second Harmonic Generation images to probe the nanoscale structure of collagen within bone and cartilage

Collagen ultrastructure plays a central role in the function of a wide range of connective tissues. Studying collagen structure at the microscopic scale is therefore of considerable interest to understand the mechanisms of tissue pathologies. Here, we use second harmonic generation microscopy to characterize collagen structure within bone and articular cartilage in human knees. We analyze the intensity dependence on polarization and discuss the differences between Forward and Backward images in both tissues. Focusing on articular cartilage, we observe an increase in Forward/Backward ratio from the cartilage surface to the bone. Coupling these results to numerical simulations reveals the evolution of collagen fibril diameter and spatial organization as a function of depth within cartilage.

The use of optical trap and microbeam to investigate the mechanical and transport characteristics of tunneling nanotubes in tumor spheroids

The use of optical trap and microbeam for investigating mechanical and transport properties of inter cellular tunneling nanotubes (TnTs) in tumor spheroids has been demonstrated. TnTs in tumor spheroids have been visualized by manipulating TnT connected cells using optical tweezers. Functionality of the TnTs for transferring cytoplasmic vesicles and injected dye molecules by optoporation method has been studied. Further, the TnTs could be longitudinally stretched by manipulating the connected cells and their elastic response was studied. Manipulation of cells at the surface of tumor spheroid using optical tweezers and injection of fluorescent dye into a trapped cell using optoporation technique.

Accumulating advantages, reducing limitations: multimodal nonlinear imaging in biomedical sciences - the synergy of multiple contrast mechanisms

Multimodal nonlinear microscopy has matured during the past decades to one of the key imaging modalities in life science and biomedicine due to its unique capabilities of label-free visualization of tissue structure and chemical composition, high depth penetration, intrinsic 3D sectioning, diffraction limited resolution and low phototoxicity. This review briefly summarizes first recent advances in the field regarding the methodology, e.g., contrast mechanisms and signal characteristics used for contrast generation as well as novel image processing approaches. The second part deals with technologic developments emphasizing improvements in penetration depth, imaging speed, spatial resolution and nonlinear labeling strategies. The third part focuses on recent applications in life science fundamental research and biomedical diagnostics as well as future clinical applications.

Imaging the bipolarity of myosin filaments with Interferometric Second Harmonic Generation microscopy

We report that combining interferometry with Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) microscopy provides valuable information about the relative orientation of noncentrosymmetric structures composing tissues. This is confirmed through the imaging of rat medial gastrocnemius muscle. The inteferometric Second Harmonic Generation (ISHG) images reveal that each side of the myosin filaments composing the A band of the sarcomere generates π phase shifted SHG signal which implies that the myosin proteins at each end of the filaments are oriented in opposite directions. This highlights the bipolar structural organization of the myosin filaments and shows that muscles can be considered as a periodically poled biological structure.