Spectrum- and time-resolved endogenous multiphoton signals reveal quantitative differentiation of premalignant and malignant gastric mucosa.

Early identification of premalignant and malignant gastric mucosa is crucial to decrease the incidence and mortality of stomach cancer. Spectrum- and time-resolved multiphoton microscopy are capable of providing not only structural but also biochemical information at the subcellular level. Based on this multidimensional imaging technique, we performed a systematic investigation on fresh human tissue specimens at the typical stages of gastric carcinogenesis, including normal, chronic gastritis with erosion, chronic gastritis with intestinal metaplasia, and intestinal-type adenocarcinoma. The results demonstrate that this technique is available to characterize the three-dimensional subcellular morphological and biochemical properties of gastric mucosa and further provide quantitative indicators of different gastric disorders, by using endogenous contrast. With advances in multiphoton endoscopy, it has the potential to allow noninvasive, label-free, real-time histological and functional diagnosis of premalignant and malignant lesions of stomach in the future.