Spatiotemporal Characterization of a Fibrin Clot Using Quantitative Phase Imaging

Rajshekhar Gannavarpu1 , Basanta Bhaduri1 , Krishnarao Tangella2 , Gabriel Popescu1 *
PLOS ONE, Volume 9, Issue 11 , e111381 2014

Studying the dynamics of fibrin clot formation and its morphology is an important problem in biology and has significant impact for several scientific and clinical applications. We present a label-free technique based on quantitative phase imaging to address this problem. Using quantitative phase information, we characterized fibrin polymerization in real-time and present a mathematical model describing the transition from liquid to gel state. By exploiting the inherent optical sectioning capability of our instrument, we measured the three-dimensional structure of the fibrin clot. From this data, we evaluated the fractal nature of the fibrin network and extracted the fractal dimension. Our non-invasive and speckle-free approach analyzes the clotting process without the need for external contrast agents.