3D quantitative Fourier analysis of second harmonic generation microscopy images of collagen structure in cartilage

Abstract

One of the main advantages of nonlinear microscopy is that it provides 3D imaging capability. Second harmonic generation is widely used to image the 3D structure of collagen fibers, and several works have highlighted the modification of the collagen fiber fabric in important diseases. By using an ellipsoidal specific fitting technique on the Fourier transformed image, we show, using both synthetic images and SHG images from cartilage, that the 3D direction of the collagen fibers can be robustly determined.