Third harmonic generation (THG) from atherosclerotic plaques revealed morphological details of cellular and extracellular lipid deposits. The THG signal adds an endogenous contrast mechanism with a practical degree of specificity for atherosclerotic plaques that complements current nonlinear optical methods for the investigation of cardiovascular disease. The use of the whole-mount tissue and backward scattered epi-detection suggests THG could potentially be used in the future as a clinical tool.

PUBLICATION: Biomedical Optics Express (2014)

AUTHORS: David M. Small, Jason S. Jones, Irwin I. Tendler, Paul E. Miller, Andre Ghetti and Nozomi Nishimurav