Chemotherapy Hyperspectral Mapping in Tissue

Figure one above illustrates an enhanced darkfield hyperspectral image of ex-vivo stained heart tissue from a negative control animal. Figure 2 shows an identical area of heart tissue from an animal exposed to doxorubicin. These images were each captured by the CytoViva system in 1-2 minutes. From a qualitative visual perspective, there is very little difference to be discerned between these two samples. However, because these are hyperspectral images, each pixel in the image contains the optical-spectral response from 400nm - 1,000nm. By comparing the spectral response of the pixels in the control tissue versus the exposed tissue (using hyperspectral image analysis software), it is possible to identify distinct tissue/pixel areas which contain a spectrum unique to the exposure of the doxorubicin drug. This spectral difference between exposed and non-exposed tissue is illustrated in figure 3 above, showing a 50nm peak wavelength difference in the doxorubicin exposed areas. As the system produces approximately 2nm of spectral resolution in each pixel across the entire spectral range, this 50nm shift is very significant.

Figure 4 maps (in red) all pixels in the image of the exposed sample where the unique spectral response for doxorubicin exposure is identified. The chart in figure 5 provides a class distribution identifying the total number and percentage of pixels in the tissue image mapped for the doxorubicin exposure.

Not only can CytoViva's Enhanced Darkfield Hyperspectral Microscope identify doxorubicin exposed tissue, but many other small molecule chemotherapy drugs such as cisplatin, paclitaxel, and mitoxantrone can also be studied using the system.

If your laboratory could benefit from the ability to observe and identify these small molecule drugs in tissue, please contact CytoViva at info@(link sends e-mail)schaefer-tec.it. We can discuss imaging of your samples or conduct an onsite demonstration if appropriate.