Near infrared imaging as a lymphatic diagnostic in health and disease

Abstract

With the development of sensors with enhanced sensitivity in the near infrared range, NIR imaging is an emerging approach for non-invasive optical imaging. These approaches lend themselves nicely to the study of peripheral lymphatic function, as these vessels are the natural clearance route from the interstitium of molecules larger than about 15 KDa. Through the injection of various NIR-labeled molecules, we have developed approaches to assess lymphatic function in a variety of physiologic and disease contexts. In this talk I will provide an overview of the applications pioneered in our lab for in vivo imaging of lymphatic function including the characterization of joint drainage, exosome trafficking to lymph nodes, and measuring lymphatic pressure generation in health and disease. Furthermore, when data gathered from NIR imaging is incorporated into computational models of lymphatic networks, the approaches provide a powerful diagnostic tool for assessing lymphatic muscle force generation with regional specificity.