Quantification of molecular diffusion in arterial tissues with optical coherence tomography and fluorescence microscopy

Alternations in vascular permeability for different molecules, drugs, and contrast agents might be a significant early marker of development of various diseases such as atherosclerosis. However, up to date experimental studies of molecular diffusion across vascular wall have been limited. Recently, we demonstrated that the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) technique could be applied for noninvasive and nondestructive quantification of molecular diffusion in different biological tissues. However, the viability of the OCT-based assessment of molecular diffusion should be validated with established methods. This study focused on comparing molecular diffusion rates in vascular tissues measured with OCT and standard fluorescent microscopy. Noninvasive quantification of tetramethylrhodamine (fluorescent dye) permeability in porcine vascular tissues was performed using a fiber-based OCT system. Concurrently, standard histological examination of dye diffusion was performed and quantified with fluorescent microscopy. The permeability of tetramethylrhodamine was found to be (2.08 ± 0.31) × 10−5 cm/s with the fluorescent technique (n = 8), and (2.45 ± 0.46) × 10−5 cm/s with the OCT (n = 3). Good correlation between permeability rates measured by OCT and histology was demonstrated, suggesting that the OCT-based method could be used for accurate, nondestructive assessment of molecular diffusion in multilayered tissues.