Collinear optical coherence and confocal fluorescence microscopies for tissue engineering

Tissue engineered medical products (TEMPs) are often three-dimensional (3D) hybrid materials consisting of a porous scaffold upon which the tissue is grown. However, monitoring of the developing tissue deep within the scaffold is hampered by its turbidity. We have sought new ways to probe the interior of the scaffold with the same resolution as conventional laser scanning confocal microscopy but with greater sensitivity. We present a novel application of optical coherence microscopy (OCM) by combining it with confocal fluorescence microscopy (CFM) to gather simultaneous structural and functional information on TEMPs in a registered fashion. In this work, we describe the collinear OCM and CFM instrument. We demonstrate the utility of this dual-mode technique for TEMPs by imaging fluorescently stained osteoblasts cultured in a polymeric TEMP.