Structure of tendon causes highly optical anisotropic properties and transport

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Significance Tendons are highly anisotropic tissues that exhibit distinct optical properties depending on the direction of light propagation relative to their fiber orientation. Understanding these variations and how to modify them through optical clearing techniques is beneficial for many light-based applications, including photobiomodulation therapy. Aim To quantify how tendon optical transport depends on fiber orientation and wavelength, comparing light propagation parallel and perpendicular to the tendon's long axis, the axis along which collagen fibers are primarily aligned, and to evaluate glycerol-based optical clearing for increasing light penetration. Approach The reduced scattering coefficient ( μs' ) was measured from 400 to 1600 nm in tendon samples oriented parallel to the tendon's fiber axis (transverse slices) and perpendicular (longitudinal slices) to it. Diffuse reflectance and total transmittance were measured using an integrating sphere and spectrophotometer, and optical coefficients were derived through a theoretical Monte Carlo model. Angular scattering measurements at 633 nm were performed to characterize forward scattering behavior. Power transmission was measured in centimeter-scale tendon sections, and Monte Carlo simulations using the measured optical properties were used to model the transmission experiment and compare orientation-dependent penetratio

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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