Image-based investigation of the zebrafish developmental process using in vivo dynamic and multi-contrast optical coherence tomography

TL;DR

This study employs in vivo multi-contrast optical coherence tomography to dynamically visualize zebrafish development, revealing detailed tissue maturation, vascular growth, and pigment cell differentiation over time.

Contribution

It introduces integrated in vivo DOCT, PS-OCT, and OCTA imaging techniques to study zebrafish development with novel algorithms for dynamic scatterer analysis.

Findings

High DOCT signals in skin stripes vary among pigment cells

Combined DOCT and PS-OCT track stripe maturation

OCTA visualizes blood, lymphatic vessels, and spinal tissues development

Abstract

We demonstrate in vivo dynamic optical coherence tomography (DOCT) imaging of zebrafish development from 2 weeks to 12 months post-fertilization, integrated with polarization-sensitive OCT (PS-OCT), OCT angiography (OCTA), and histological validation. Two DOCT algorithms were utilized: logarithmic intensity variance and late OCT correlation decay speed, which characterize the occupancy of dynamic scatterers and their motion speeds, respectively. Our results show that skin stripes exhibit high DOCT signals and it varies among the pigment-cell types. Furthermore, the combination of DOCT and PS-OCT captures the maturation of these stripes. In addition, DOCT and OCTA successfully visualized the developmental progression of blood and lymphatic vessels, as well as spinal tissues.