Longitudinally detecting collagen progression within multicellular pancreatic tumor spheroids using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (Conference Presentation)

Common two-dimensional (2D) models are ineffective in mimicking solid tumors. Additionally, fibrotic stroma is one of the major characteristics of pancreatic tumors and it is often missing in in vitro models. Therefore, there is a need for a better in vitro model to accurately mimic the characteristics of tumor and to detect the progression of fibrosis within the tumor model. Here, we utilized polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) to longitudinally detect the collagen progression within multicellular pancreatic tumor spheroids in vitro. Spheroids were scanned by PS-OCT every two days, and progression of fibrosis within the spheroids were detected.