Development of the optical biopsy system for small experimental animals

Development of the optical biopsy system for experimental small animals is in progress. A prototype of the system which consists of a miniaturized gastro endoscope unit and Raman probes has been completed by now. The system is developed to study a gastric cancer rat model. The endoscope is 2.5 mm in diameter and is equipped an imaging bundle fiber, illumination fibers, a channel and a mechanism to angle the probe head. The head of the Raman probe comes out through the channel and it is possible to aim the probe to the target watching on the monitor. The endoscope was inserted into the anaesthetized healthy rat under the breathing support. It was successfully observed inside of the stomach of the living rat and measured Raman spectra. The spectrum of blood vessels contains the strong contribution from lipids. The present results demonstrate high potential of the system in the in vivo Raman study using the rat model.