Mapping Tissue Mechanics with Brillouin Imaging

Brillouin microscopy is already a powerful tool, but with the help of image analysis, it’s becoming even more precise and practical. The team of researchers from the University of Exeter, Aix Marseille University in collaboration with the Machine Intelligence LTD to better interpret mechanical maps of tissue-like collagen gels.

The study, published in Biomedical Optics Express, investigates how light interacts with acoustic waves in a material, revealing its viscoelastic properties, thus making it a powerful tool for studying tissues without needing dyes or physical contact. For the Brillouin microspectroscopy system the team built a set-up integrating our Cobolt Samba as the light source, which operates at 532nm with 300mW output power and <1 MHz spectral linewidth.

The results show that the Brillouin frequency shift increases with increasing collagen or formalin content, which suggests an increase in stiffness as the water content is reduced. This work demonstrates the ability of this method to determine the Brillouin spectral signatures of biologically relevant specimens close to physiological hydration levels.