Scanning Acoustic Microscopy and Time-Resolved Fluorescence Spectroscopy for Characterization of Atherosclerotic Plaques

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 14378 - 11
• Main Authors: Bilen, Bukem, Gokbulut, Belkis, Kafa, Ulku, Heves, Emre, Inci, Mehmet Naci, Unlu, Mehmet Burcin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 26.09.2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/766/747; 692/53/2421; Acoustics; Arteriosclerosis; Atherosclerosis; Calcification; Centenarians; Collagen; Fluorescence; Fluorescence spectroscopy; Humanities and Social Sciences; Microscopy; multidisciplinary; Myocardial infarction; Plaques; Quantum dots; Scanning; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Spectroscopy; Spectrum analysis; Scanning Acoustic Microscopy (SAM); Quantum Dots; Collagen-rich Regions; Time-resolved Fluorescence Spectroscopy (TRFS); Acoustic Impedance Values
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-32788-2

Atherosclerotic plaques constitute the primary cause of heart attack and stroke. However, we still lack a clear identification of the plaques. Here, we evaluate the feasibility of scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM) and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy (TRFS) in atherosclerotic plaque characterization. We perform dual-modality microscopic imaging of the human carotid atherosclerotic plaques. We first show that the acoustic impedance values are statistically higher in calcified regions compared with the collagen-rich areas. We then use CdTe/CdS quantum dots for imaging the atherosclerotic plaques by TRFS and show that fluorescence lifetime values of the quantum dots in collagen-rich areas are notably different from the ones in calcified areas. In summary, both modalities are successful in differentiating the calcified regions from the collagen-rich areas within the plaques indicating that these techniques are confirmatory and may be combined to characterize atherosclerotic plaques in the future.