Label-free optical imaging of cell function and collagen structure for cell-based therapies. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Cell-based therapies harness functional cells or tissues to mediate healing and treat disease. Assessment of cellular therapeutics requires methods that are non-destructive to ensure therapies remain viable and uncontaminated for use in patients. Optical imaging of endogenous collagen, by second-harmonic generation, and the metabolic coenzymes NADH and FAD, by autofluorescence microscopy, provides tissue structure and cellular information. Here, we review applications of label-free nonlinear optical imaging of cellular metabolism and collagen second-harmonic generation for assessing cell-based therapies. Additionally, we discuss the potential of label-free imaging for quality control of cell-based therapies, as well as the current limitations and potential future directions of label-free imaging technologies.

published proceedings

  • Curr Opin Biomed Eng

author list (cited authors)

  • Hu, L., Morganti, S., Nguyen, U., Benavides, O. R., & Walsh, A. J.

citation count

  • 1

complete list of authors

  • Hu, Linghao||Morganti, Samantha||Nguyen, Uyen||Benavides, Oscar R||Walsh, Alex J

publication date

  • March 2023