使用一维机械模板的高分辨阿达玛变换显微图像探测技术研究

阿达玛变换（HT）是一种类似于傅里叶变换（FT）的光谱调制技术,具有多通道同时检测和多通道成像能力等优点,但两者的数学模型、对光信号的调制方法和调制手段都不一样。由于HT仅涉及四则运算,而FT涉及较为复杂的三角函数和复数运算,所以HT的解码速度快于FT。在成像技术方面,HT具有直接成像的能力,而FT只能对通过其它方式获取的图像进行加工处理。     

高分辨阿达玛变换显微荧光图像分析(Ⅰ)——系统的成像能力及其在单个肿瘤细胞分析中的应用

阿达玛变换(Hadamard transform, HT)是一种类似于傅里叶变换的光谱调制技术, 具有多通道同时检测和多通道成像能力. 实现高分辨HT成像的关键在于阿达玛模板的制作, 阿达玛模板有两种, 即移动式机械编码模板(Movable mechanical mask)和固定式光电模板(Stationary electro-optic mask). 在实际成像方面, 移动模板和固定模板各有优缺点: 前者一般用石英玻璃制作, 对光信号不会因模板吸收而导致信号损失, 因此数据很可靠, 而且模板的制作也较为容易, 但由于采用步进电机驱动而容易导致机械故障, 难以实现快速编码; 后者无移动部件, 无机械故障, 因此系统比较紧凑, 但由于它是由液晶材料制成的(可导致信号损失), 从而限制了其在某些光谱区域的使用. 此外, 它对系统的软件设计要求比前者高, 实现高分辨成像更加困难. 正是由于上述原因, 实现快速、高分辨HT成像具有一定难度, 最近有关HT成像技术的报道极少.     

High-resolution Hadamard transform microscope fluorescence imaging: quantifying the DNA content in single cells

This study presents a novel miniaturized Hadamard transform fluorescence imaging microscope, by combining a conventional fluorescence microscope with Hadamard transform multiplexing encoding using a one-dimensional movable mask to realize spatial resolution and a linear CCD for multichannel detection. The microscope can provide high-resolution automatically-generated 0–255 gray level HT images for morphological analysis and visualization of a single cell, and normalized HT images for cellular quantitative measurements. The microscopes imaging capability was applied to measure the DNA content in human lymphocyte, chicken erythrocyte and eel erythrocyte, and a comparative study was performed. The results show that the calibrated DNA content in a chicken erythrocyte is 2.32 pg when human lymphocyte is used as the standard, and eel erythrocyte may be a potentially reliable and novel standard for determining DNA contents in other species because it has a stable DNA value of 2.06 pg, with a CV of 4.3% when 20 eel erythrocytes are measured. The results also demonstrate that the HT imaging microscope should be valuable in the fields of medicine and cell biology.     

Quantitative DNA imaging in breast tumor cells by a Hadamard transform fluorescence imaging microscope.

This paper presents a novel Hadamard transform (HT) fluorescence imaging microscope by combining multiplexed imaging technique with a conventional upright fluorescence microscope for single-cell imaging and quantitative cellular analysis. The HT imaging microscope can provide 511 x 512-pixel single-cell image with high sensitivity within 21 s. In this study, the high potential value of the microscope in biomedical analysis has been demonstrated by using it to evaluate the malignancy degree of thirty cases of human breast tumors based on the measurements of cellular DNA contents, with conclusions highly accordant with pathological diagnosis. The results show that the HT microscope has the ability to analyze very small specimens and the capability of detecting very high ploidy cells, which are advantages over flow cytometry. The microscope was also successfully applied to cellular morphological analysis, and it was demonstrated that a significant linear relationship exists between tumor nuclear DNA contents and the nuclear area, and malignant and benign tumors are significantly different in both DNA contents and nuclear area. The reliability of the HT microscope in cellular DNA measurements was also investigated.     

In situ spectral imaging of marker proteins in gastric cancer with near-infrared and visible quantum dots probes

This study presents the investigation of bioconjugating ability of near-infrared (NIR) CdSeTe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) (710 nm) and visible CdSe QDs (595 nm) in immunofluorescent staining for cancer biomarkers in gastric cancer tissues probed with the homemade Hadamard transform (HT) spectral imaging microscope and a commercial multispectral imaging system. The results show that imunostaining ability of NIR QDs probes is stronger than that of visible QDs when the two kinds of QDs are simultaneously used to probe the cancer biomarkers such as cytokeratin 20 (CK20) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in gastric cancer tissues. Moreover, when the two QDs probes are used for immunostaining successively for the same target molecules, staining order has great influences on the final results due to their different conjugating ability to the marker proteins. The results imply that NIR QDs hold more promise for real-time imaging of tumor tissues due to its higher sensitivity and contrast. In addition, the results also demonstrate the potential of Hadamard transform spectral imaging as a useful tool in biomedical analysis and quantitative evaluation for tumor tissues.     

Spectral imaging of single molecules by transmission grating-based epi-fluorescence microscopy

A spectral imaging method of single protein molecules labeled with a single fluorophore is presented. The method is based on a transmission grating and a routine fluorescence microscope. The bovine serum alubmin (BSA) and antiBSA molecules labeled with Alexa Fluor 488 and Alexa Fluor 594, respectively, are used as the model proteins. The fluorescence of single molecules is dispersed into zeroth-order spectrum and first-order spectrum by the transmission grating. Results show that the fluorescence emission spectrum of single molecule converted from the first-order spectral imaging is in good agreement with the bulk fluorescence spectrum. The spectral resolution of 2.4 nm/pixel is obtained, which is sufficient for identifying the molecular species in a multicomponent system.     

Content uniformity of pharmaceutical solid dosage forms by near infrared hyperspectral imaging: A feasibility study

Near-infrared imaging systems simultaneously record spectral and spatial information. Each measurement generates a data cube containing several thousand spectra. Chemometric methods are therefore required to extract qualitative and quantitative information. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of quantifying active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and excipient content in pharmaceutical formulations using hyperspectral imaging.Two kinds of tablets with a range of API content were analysed: a binary mixture of API and cellulose, and a pharmaceutical formulation with seven different compounds. Two pixel sizes, 10 μm/pixel and 40 μm/pixel, were compared, together with two types of spectral pretreatment: standard normal variate (SNV) normalization and Savitzky-Golay smoothing. Two methods of extracting concentrations were compared: the partial least squares 2 (PLS2) algorithm, which predicts the content of several compounds simultaneously, and the multivariate classical least squares (CLS) algorithm based on pure compound reference spectra without calibration.Best content predictions were achieved using 40 μm/pixel resolution and the PLS2 method with SNV normalized spectra. However, the CLS method extracted distribution maps with higher contrast and was less sensitive to noisy spectra and outliers; its API predictions were also highly correlated to real content, indicating the feasibility of predicting API content using hyperspectral imaging without calibration.     

Characterization of an energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence imaging system based on a Micropattern Gaseous Detector

An energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) imaging system based on a Micropattern Gas Detector has already shown good results for different applications. An X-ray tube, a pinhole camera and a Micro-Hole and Strip Plate (MHSP) based detector are the main components of the experimental system. The detector uses an MHSP in a Xe atmosphere at 1 bar, and acting as a photon counting device, i.e., it is capable to record each single event retaining the energy and the interaction position (2D-sensitive detector) information of the incident photon, demonstrating to be a promising device for EDXRF imaging applications. This work presents studies of energy resolution, energy linearity and spatial resolution/elemental mapping as a function of image magnification of the system.     

Infrared chemical imaging: Spatial resolution evaluation and super-resolution concept

Chemical imaging systems help to solve many challenges in various scientific fields. Able to deliver rapid spatial and chemical information, modern infrared spectrometers using Focal Plane Array detectors (FPA) are of great interest. Considering conventional infrared spectrometers with a single element detector, we can consider that the diffraction-limited spatial resolution is more or less equal to the wavelength of the light (i.e. 2.5-25 μm). Unfortunately, the spatial resolution of FPA spectroscopic setup is even lower due to the detector pixel size. This becomes a real constraint when micron-sized samples are analysed. New chemometrics methods are thus of great interest to overcome such resolution drawback, while keeping our far-field infrared imaging spectrometers. The aim of the present work is to evaluate the super-resolution concept in order to increase the spatial resolution of infrared imaging spectrometers using FPA detectors. The main idea of super-resolution is the fusion of several low-resolution images of the same sample to obtain a higher-resolution image. Applying the super-resolution concept on a relatively low number of FPA acquisitions, it was possible to observe a 30% decrease in spatial resolution.     

Novel B,O-chelated fluorescent probe for nitric oxide imaging in Raw 264.7 macrophages and onion tissues

A novel fluorescent probe based on B,O-chelated dipyrromethene chromophore in far-visible and near-infrared spectral region (600–900 nm), boron chelated 8-(3,4-diaminophenyl)-3,5-bis(2-hydroxyphenyl)-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indancene (BOPB), has been first developed for nitric oxide (NO) imaging. BOPB, a turn-on fluorescent probe, can react with NO rapidly under physiological condition. The reaction product of BOPB with NO, BOPB-T, emits bright red fluorescence at 643 nm when excited at 622 nm. Meanwhile, BOPB-T displays high fluorescent quantum yield of 0.21 and good photostability. The selectivity for NO over other reactive oxygen/nitrogen species and ascorbic acid has been investigated and BOPB has good specificity for the detection of NO. MTT assay shows that the toxicity of BOPB (below 10 μM) to living cells can be neglected. Based on these investigations, BOPB has been used for NO imaging in Raw 264.7 cells and onion tissues. Meanwhile, mechanical injury to onion tissues results in a brighter fluorescence around the wound, which indicates that more NO has been produced in plant tissues in response to external stimuli. Our studies illustrate that BOPB has advantages of high sensitivity, low background interference and little photo damage on fluorescence imaging of NO.     

高分辨阿达玛变换显微荧光图像分析(Ⅲ)——系统分辨率和图像恢复过程对单细胞分析结果的影响

提出了一种改进的阿达玛变换(HT)显微荧光图像分析系统,以单细胞试样分析为基础,分别对系统的分辨率和解码后的图像恢复过程进行了讨论.结果表明,该系统可应用于单细胞形态分析和定量分析.图像在x和y方向的像素分辨率相同,并达到了同一成像物镜下的空间分辨率水平,因此在获取微米级单细胞试样的微弱荧光信号的二维图像时,系统的成像能力较好,可用于单细胞形态分析.对花粉细胞的荧光衰退过程的定量分析结果表明,对不同HT图像提供的同一系列试样的定量数据进行比较时,必须对所有该系列试样的图像恢复过程进行归一化处理.     

Investigation of modulation parameters in multiplexing gas chromatography

Combination of information technology and separation sciences opens a new avenue to achieve high sample throughputs and therefore is of great interest to bypass bottlenecks in catalyst screening of parallelized reactors or using multitier well plates in reaction optimization. Multiplexing gas chromatography utilizes pseudo-random injection sequences derived from Hadamard matrices to perform rapid sample injections which gives a convoluted chromatogram containing the information of a single sample or of several samples with similar analyte composition. The conventional chromatogram is obtained by application of the Hadamard transform using the known injection sequence or in case of several samples an averaged transformed chromatogram is obtained which can be used in a Gauss–Jordan deconvolution procedure to obtain all single chromatograms of the individual samples. The performance of such a system depends on the modulation precision and on the parameters, e.g. the sequence length and modulation interval. Here we demonstrate the effects of the sequence length and modulation interval on the deconvoluted chromatogram, peak shapes and peak integration for sequences between 9-bit (511 elements) and 13-bit (8191 elements) and modulation intervals Δt between 5 s and 500 ms using a mixture of five components. It could be demonstrated that even for high-speed modulation at time intervals of 500 ms the chromatographic information is very well preserved and that the separation efficiency can be improved by very narrow sample injections. Furthermore this study shows that the relative peak areas in multiplexed chromatograms do not deviate from conventionally recorded chromatograms.     

Fast sequential multi-element determination of major and minor elements in environmental samples and drinking waters by high-resolution continuum source flame atomic absorption spectrometry

The fast sequential multi-element determination of 11 elements present at different concentration levels in environmental samples and drinking waters has been investigated using high-resolution continuum source flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The main lines for Cu (324.754 nm), Zn (213.857 nm), Cd (228.802 nm), Ni (232.003 nm) and Pb (217.001 nm), main and secondary absorption lines for Mn (279.482 and 279.827 nm), Fe (248.327, 248.514 and 302.064 nm) and Ca (422.673 and 239.856 nm), secondary lines with different sensitivities for Na (589.592 and 330.237 nm) and K (769.897 and 404.414 nm) and a secondary line for Mg (202.582 nm) have been chosen to perform the analysis. A flow injection system has been used for sample introduction so sample consumption has been reduced up to less than 1 mL per element, measured in triplicate. Furthermore, the use of multiplets for Fe and the side pixel registration approach for Mg have been studied in order to reduce sensitivity and extend the linear working range. The figures of merit have been calculated and the proposed method was applied to determine these elements in a pine needles reference material (SRM 1575a), drinking and natural waters and soil extracts. Recoveries of analytes added at different concentration levels to water samples and extracts of soils were within 88–115% interval. In this way, the fast sequential multi-element determination of major and minor elements can be carried out, in triplicate, with successful results without requiring additional dilutions of samples or several different strategies for sample preparation using about 8–9 mL of sample.     

A new sample substrate for imaging and correlating organic and trace metal composition in biological cells and tissues

Many disease processes involve alterations in the chemical makeup of tissue. Synchrotron-based infrared (IR) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) microscopes are becoming increasingly popular tools for imaging the organic and trace metal compositions of biological materials, respectively, without the need for extrinsic labels or stains. Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (FTIRM) provides chemical information on the organic components of a material at a diffraction-limited spatial resolution of 2–10 μm in the mid-infrared region. The synchrotron X-ray fluorescence (SXRF) microprobe is a complementary technique used to probe trace element content in the same systems with a similar spatial resolution. However to be most beneficial, it is important to combine the results from both imaging techniques on a single sample, which requires precise overlap of the IR and X-ray images. In this work, we have developed a sample substrate containing a gold grid pattern on its surface, which can be imaged with both the IR and X-ray microscopes. The substrate consists of a low trace element glass slide that has a gold grid patterned on its surface, where the major and minor parts of the grid contain 25 and 12 nm gold, respectively. This grid pattern can be imaged with the IR microscope because the reflectivity of gold differs as a function of thickness. The pattern can also be imaged with the SXRF microprobe because the Au fluorescence intensity changes with gold thickness. The tissue sample is placed on top of the patterned substrate. The grid pattern’s IR reflectivity image and the gold SXRF image are used as fiducial markers for spatially overlapping the IR and SXRF images from the tissue. Results show that IR and X-ray images can be correlated precisely, with a spatial resolution of less than one pixel (i.e., 2–3 microns). The development of this new tool will be presented along with applications to paraffin-embedded metalloprotein crystals, Alzheimer’s disease, and hair composition.     

Hard X-ray micro-spectroscopy at Berliner Elektronenspeicherring für Synchrotronstrahlung II

The capabilities of the X-ray beamlines at Berliner Elektronenspeicherring für Synchrotronstrahlung II (BESSY II) for hard X-ray measurements with micro- and nanometer spatial resolution are reviewed. The micro-X-ray fluorescence analysis (micro-XRF), micro-extended X-ray absorption fine structure (micro-EXAFS), micro-X-ray absorption near-edge structure (micro-XANES) as well as X-ray standing wave technique (XSW), X-ray beam induced current (XBIC) in combination with micro-XRF and micro-diffraction as powerful methods for organic and inorganic sample characterization with synchrotron radiation are discussed. Mono and polycapillary optical systems were used for fine X-ray focusing down to 1 µm spot size with monochromatic and white synchrotron radiation. Polycapillary based confocal detection was applied for depth-resolved micro-XRF analysis with a volume resolution down to 3.4 · 10^− 6 mm³. Standing wave excitation in waveguides was also applied to nano-EXAFS measurements with depth resolution on the order of 1 nm. Several examples of the methods and its applications in material research, biological investigations and metal-semiconductor interfaces analysis are given.     

Rapid high throughput assay for fluorimetric detection of doxorubicin--application of nucleic acid-dye bioprobe

A double stranded DNA based fluorescence bioprobe for anticancer agent (doxorubicin) detection is described. This method provides a new way for sensitive DNA/drug interaction study by a homogeneous assay. The probe employs the long-wavelength intercalating fluorophore TOTO-3^® (TT3). The anticancer agent, doxorubicin, which interacts with the DNA-TT3 complex, was indirectly measured by the decrease in the fluorescence intensity. Various oligonucleotides with different sequences were examined. Doxorubicin has preference for the oligonucleotide 5′AGCACG3′. Enhanced fluorescence observed for the TT3 intercalation with this oligonucleotide makes the DNA-dye complex a suitable bioprobe for doxorubicin detection by competitive assay. A home-built CCD camera setup was applied along with 384 well plate assay format for high throughput fluorescence imaging. The detection limit can be as low as 25 ng mL⁻¹ with an upper limit of 100 μg mL⁻¹. The recovery test with spiked serum sample shows that this method can be a potential routine method for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM).     

阿达玛变换显微荧光成像在单细胞定量分析中的应用研究

本文探讨了用阿达玛变换（HT）显微荧光成像系统获得基于256灰度级图像的单细胞荧光强度和解码定标值之间的关系,将归一化的HT图像用于定量分析,建立了适合不同样品的定量分析方法.在此条件下,定量分析数据有很好的准确度和精密度;将系统用于单个乳腺肿瘤细胞的DNA定量分析,对乳腺肿瘤的良恶性及癌变程度进行判断,分析结果与病理学诊断结论一致.     

Separation of tyrosine enantiomer derivatives by capillary electrophoresis with light-emitting diode-induced fluorescence detection

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) coupled with fiber-optic light-emitting diode-induced fluorescence detection has been developed for the separation of tyrosine (Tyr) enantiomers. R(−)-4-(3-isothiocyanatopyrrolidin-1-yl)-7-(N,N-dimethylaminosulfonyl)-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole was used as a chiral fluorescence tagged reagent for derivatization of Tyr. The effect of pH, running buffer concentration and applied voltage on enantioselectivity has been investigated. The optimum CE conditions are 15 mmol/L borate running buffer (pH 10.5) and 14-kV applied voltage. Good reproducibility was obtained with coefficient of variation (n = 7) of migration time and peak area less than 0.2 and 2.0%, respectively. The limits of detection of d- and l-Tyr derivatives were 2.9 and 2.2 μmol/L (S/N = 3), respectively. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the determination of Tyr in a commercial amino acid oral solution.     

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer between acridine orange and rhodamine 6G and its analytical application for vitamin B12 with flow-injection laser-induced fluorescence detection

By coupling flow-injection with laser-induced fluorescence detection, a setup was developed and a novel method combining fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and flow-injection analysis (FIA) was proposed for the determination of vitamin B₁₂ (VB₁₂) based on its fluorescence quenching on the system of acridine orange (AO)/rhodamine 6G (R6G). The effective energy transfer could occur between AO and R6G in the dodecyl benzene sodium sulfonate (DBS) while 454 nm argon laser was used as the excitation source, and as a result, the fluorescence emission of R6G has been increased significantly. It was found that the fluorescence of the above system could be sharply diminished by VB₁₂. By using the mixed solution AO-R6G-DBS and the same solution containing VB₁₂ as the carrier and sample, respectively, a series of negative peaks which could be applied for the quantification of VB₁₂ were obtained. The detection limit for VB₁₂ was 1.65 × 10⁻⁶ mol/L. The linear range for determining VB₁₂ was 4 × 10⁻⁴ to 2 × 10⁻⁶ mol/L (correlation coefficient, r = 0.9923). The method was applied to measure VB₁₂ injections with satisfactory results.     

Highly sensitive fluorescence detection with Hg-lamp and photon counter in microchip capillary electrophoresis

A microchip capillary electrophoresis system with highly sensitive fluorescence detection is reported. The system was successfully constructed using an inverted fluorescence microscope, a highly sensitive photon counter, a photomultiplier tube (PMT) and a capillary electrophoresis microchip. This system can be applied to the fluorescence detection with various wavelengths (300-600 nm). Different fluorescence reagents require different excitation wavelengths. The wavelengths of UV light (300-385 nm), blue light (450-480 nm) and green light (530-550 nm) are employed to excite Titan yellow, fluorescence-5-isothiocyanate (FITC) and Rhodamine 6G, respectively. The detection limit (S/N = 3) of FITC is 7 × 10⁻¹⁰ M, which is 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than that obtained with the lamp-based fluorescence and PMT detection system and approaches the data gained by the laser-induced fluorescence detection. The linear relationship is excellent within the range of concentration 1.3 × 10⁻⁹ to 6.5 × 10⁻⁸ M FITC. It offers a new method to widen the application of the lamp-based fluorescence detection.