Optical characterization of muscle

Abstract

Optical characterization and internal structure of biological tissues is highly important for biomedical optics. In particular for optical clearing processes, such information is of vital importance to understand the mechanisms involved through the variation of the refractive indices of tissue components. The skeletal muscle presents a fibrous structure with an internal arrangement of muscle fiber cords surrounded by interstitial fluid that is responsible for strong light scattering. To determine the refractive index of muscle components we have used a simple method of measuring tissue mass and refractive index during dehydration. After performing measurements for natural and ten dehydration states of the muscle samples, we have determined the dependence between the refractive index of the muscle and its water content. Also, we have joined our measurements with some values reported in literature to perform some calculations that have permitted to determine the refractive index of the dried muscle fibers and their corresponding volume percentage inside the natural muscle. © 2012 SPIE.