The study of vascular oxygen saturation has important implications in a range of diseases with which inflammation and hypoxia are associated. This thesis details advancements in multispectral imaging systems for in vivo optical biopsy, relating to new applications primarily for the localised measurement of blood oxygen saturation in vivo, and also fluorescence cellular imaging. A calibration-free oximetry technique, based on previous work in retinal oximetry, was developed for the purposes of microvascular oximetry analysis in deep tissue. A novel multispectral microscope was developed for imaging of the microvasculature, with annular back-illumination providing glint-free images and simplification of the optical oximetry model. This system was successfully employed for proof-of-concept oximetry in the mouse tendon, resulting in the first localised measurements of vascular hypoxia associated with acute inflammation. The tendon is of interest as it is affected by auto-immune inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. A further application of the oximetry algorithm to inflammation in the spinal cord of rats is described in this thesis, in which hypoxia associated with a rat model for multiple sclerosis was successfully quantified. The latter part of the thesis describes advancements made towards incorporating microendoscopic probes to the imaging system, extending the calibration-free oximetry technique to applications where minimally-invasive imaging is required. Preliminary ex vivo validation experiments in the mouse tendon are described. Finally, the minimally invasive system was modified for multispectral fluorescence microscopy, and a novel technique for localised delivery of fluorophore-conjugated antibodies is described. Localised interventions and observations of immunological events is of interest to biologists as a greater understanding of immune-related disease can potentially be gained. Preliminary ex vivo experiments observing the binding of antibodies to T cells in the lymph node are described.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:739278 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | van der Putten, Marieke Anne |
| Publisher | University of Glasgow |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8947/ |
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