In vivo imaging of the drosophila melanogaster heart using a novel optical coherence tomography microscope
Real time in vivo optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging of the adult fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster heart using a newly designed OCT microscope allows accurate assessment of cardiac anatomy and function. D. melanogaster has been used extensively in genetic research for over a century, but in vivo evaluation of the heart has been limited by available imaging technology. The ability to assess phenotypic changes with micrometer-scale resolution noninvasively in genetic models such as D. melanogaster is needed in the advancing fields of developmental biology and genetics. We have developed a dedicated small animal OCT imaging system incorporating a state-of-the-art, real time OCT scanner integrated into a standard stereo zoom microscope which allows for simultaneous OCT and video imaging. System capabilities include A-scan, B-scan, and M-scan imaging as well as automated 3D volumetric acquisition and visualization. Transverse and sagittal B-mode scans of the four chambered D. melanogaster heart have been obtained with the OCT microscope and are consistent with detailed anatomical studies from the literature. Further analysis by M-mode scanning is currently under way to assess cardiac function as a function of age and sex by determination of shortening fraction and ejection fraction. These studies create control cardiac data on the wild type D. melanogaster, allowing subsequent evaluation of phenotypic cardiac changes in this model after regulated genetic mutation.
