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| Ex vivo Analysis of Skin Barrier Damage Using Terahertz Imaging
Technology |
| QI Ji1, 2, HUANG Jun-kai3, CHEN Yu-ang1, 2, HE Ming-xia1, 2, QU Qiu-hong1, 2*, HU Li-zhi3*, ZHANG Yi-zhu1, 2* |
1. School of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronic Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
2. Sichuan Innovation Research Institute, Tianjin University, Chengdu 610504, China
3. School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300203, China
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Abstract Terahertz technology has made significant strides in recent years due to its non-ionizing nature and high sensitivity to water content, gradually finding applications in fields such as tumor detection and burn assessment. As a result, the potential of terahertz imaging in pathological diagnosis and biomedical research has garnered increasing attention, indicating substantial value for further development and utilization. The skin, as the largest organ of the human body, serves key functions in protection, thermoregulation, and immune response. Maintaining the integrity of the skin barrier is crucial for preventing or mitigating skin diseases. To evaluate and detect changes in skin barrier function, it is imperative to develop an accurate and reliable new method. Using mouse skin as a model, the experimental group was prepared with barrier-damaged skin through repeated tape stripping, while normal skin served as the control group. To better reveal varying degrees of damage and distinct structural layers, the experiment employed multiple sample preparation techniques, including direct sectioning, water-bath scraping, and enzymatic digestion. These approaches allowed the skin layers to be localized and compared from multiple perspectives. A terahertz two-dimensional translation scanning imaging system was then used to measure the samples. The scan results not only visually illustrated differences between damaged sites and normal areas in the images but also enabled quantitative analysis of average gray values in specific regions, thereby reflecting changes in terahertz absorption at both the skin surface and deeper levels. To improve the localization of skin layers, time-domain tomography was used to analyze reflection signals at different depths. By correlating the terahertz reflections with corresponding skin structures, the study verified the link between changes in terahertz absorption and actual skin barrier damage. The results showed that the barrier function of mouse skin repeatedly treated with tape was significantly compromised. Compared with the control group, the damaged areas in the terahertz imaging displayed notably distinct absorption characteristics; quantitative comparisons of the gray values further confirmed that these differences were statistically significant. These findings not only provide direct evidence for the rapid identification and assessment of skin damage using terahertz technology but also offer a viable strategy for future clinical monitoring of changes in skin barrier function.
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Received: 2025-04-03
Accepted: 2025-09-19
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Corresponding Authors:
QU Qiu-hong, HU Li-zhi, ZHANG Yi-zhu
E-mail: quqiuhong114@126.com；lizhihu@tmu.edu.cn；zhangyizhu@tju.edu.cn
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