Mueller polarimetry for Alzheimer's disease analysis
Daria A. Kargina 1, Aleksandr S. Dyatlov 1, Dmitry V. Karlovets 1; 1 School of Physics and Engineering, ITMO University, 197101 St. Petersburg, Russia
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by structural changes in brain tissue, including the accumulation of amyloid-β plaques. Sensitive, label-free methods for detecting these changes are of growing interest for biomedical research and diagnostics. In this work, we investigate the potential of Mueller polarimetry for the analysis of histological brain sections from a 5xFAD mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease.
A transmission Mueller polarimetry system was used to measure the complete Mueller matrix of brain sections. Polarimetric decomposition enabled the extraction of depolarization, retardance, and diattenuation maps, providing quantitative information about tissue microstructure and optical anisotropy. The obtained parameters were analyzed in different regions of the hippocampus and adjacent brain regions and compared with conventional histological staining.
Our preliminary results demonstrate that Mueller polarimetry can reveal structural differences associated with Alzheimer’s pathology and provide complementary information to conventional contrast-enhanced microscopy. These findings highlight the potential of Mueller polarimetry as a non-destructive optical technique for studying neurodegenerative diseases and developing quantitative biomarkers for tissue characterization.
Speaker
Daria Kargina
ITMO University
Russia
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