Mueller matrix decomposition for polarized light assessment of biological tissues

The Mueller matrix represents the transfer function of an optical system in its interactions with polarized light and its elements relate to specific biologically or clinically relevant properties. However, when many optical polarization effects occur simultaneously, the resulting matrix elements re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of biophotonics 2009-03, Vol.2 (3), p.145-156
Main Authors: Ghosh, Nirmalya, Wood, Michael F. G., Li, Shu-hong, Weisel, Richard D., Wilson, Brian C., Li, Ren-Ke, Vitkin, I. Alex
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Anisotropy
Birefringence
glucose
Glucose - metabolism
Microscopy, Polarization - instrumentation
Microscopy, Polarization - methods
Microscopy, Polarization - statistics & numerical data
Monte Carlo Method
Myocardial Infarction - pathology
Myocardial Infarction - physiopathology
Myocardial Infarction - therapy
non-invasive tissue characterization
optical activity
Optical Phenomena
Optical Rotation
Phantoms, Imaging
polarimetry
Rats
Rats, Inbred Lew
Regeneration - physiology
regenerative medicine
Stem Cell Transplantation
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Summary:The Mueller matrix represents the transfer function of an optical system in its interactions with polarized light and its elements relate to specific biologically or clinically relevant properties. However, when many optical polarization effects occur simultaneously, the resulting matrix elements represent several “lumped” effects, thus hindering their unique interpretation. Currently, no methods exist to extract these individual properties in turbid media. Here, we present a novel application of a Mueller matrix decomposition methodology that achieves this objective. The methodology is validated theoretically via a novel polarized‐light propagation model, and experimentally in tissue simulating phantoms. The potential of the approach is explored for two specific biomedical applications: monitoring of changes in myocardial tissues following regenerative stem cell therapy, through birefringence‐induced retardation of the light's linear and circular polarizations, and non‐invasive blood glucose measurements through chirality‐induced rotation of the light's linear polarization. Results demonstrate potential for both applications. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
ISSN:1864-063X
1864-0648
DOI:10.1002/jbio.200810040