Nonlinear optical microscopy of bronchus

As the first barrier exposed to carcinogens, the bronchus is prone to early pathologic alterations. The assessment of these early changes is of key significance in the physiological studies and disease diagnosis of bronchus. Here, we demonstrate nonlinear optical microscopy (NOLM) to image mouse bronchial wall microstructure based on intrinsic nonlinear optical contrast. Our results show that NOLM is effective for imaging the bronchial intact microstructural components, providing quantitatively information on the biomorphology and biochemistry of tissue. With the advent of the clinical portability of typical nonlinear optical endoscopy, the NOLM technique has the potential to be applied in vivo the clinical diagnosis and monitoring of bronchial disease.