Label-free, multi-contrast optical coherence tomography for study of skin melanoma mice in vivo

The lymphatic system plays an important role in inflammation and cancer such as melanoma. Due to the limitations of current developed imaging techniques, visualization of lymphatic vessels within the tissue in vivo has been challenging. Optical imaging of lymphatic vessel is gaining increased interests because it does not involve any radiation and can achieve very high resolution. Here, we developed a multi-contrast, label-free optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging technology with an axial resolution of ∼ 5 μm and lateral resolution of ∼ 7 μm, which is capable of providing microstructural information and microcirculatory system including blood and lymphatic vessels simultaneously. Using this technique, we observed the melanoma mice in vivo. Mice were treated topically on the ear with (Z)-4-Hydroxytamoxifen(4-OHT) to elicit BRAF^V600E and to silence Pten expression. Also, to observing the structural information, angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis in the ear of the induced melanoma mouse can be done. The advantage of using OCT over other imaging modalities is its ability to assess label-free blood flow along with lymphatic vessels simultaneously for imaging the microcirculatory system within tissue beds without any exogenous agents. Because the metastasis of melanoma is highly related to the lymphatic vessels, our findings can be a powerful tool to help the diagnosis of the metastasis melanoma. In the future, this may become a helpful tool for better understanding pathologic mechanisms and treatment technique development in some diseases.