テラヘルツ波で耳の病気を見える化 ~内耳蝸牛内部の非破壊3D観察に成功~

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2025-03-28 早稲田大学

早稲田大学大学院情報生産システム研究科の芹田和則准教授らの研究グループは、神戸大学や大阪大学との共同研究により、テラヘルツ波を用いて内耳蝸牛の内部構造を非破壊で3次元的に観察することに成功しました。従来、蝸牛は骨に囲まれているため、光やX線での安全な内部観察が困難でしたが、今回の研究では、非線形光学結晶にフェムト秒パルスレーザーを照射して微小なテラヘルツ波を発生させる手法を開発し、マウスの蝸牛内部を高解像度で可視化しました。この技術は、感音難聴など耳の疾患の診断や、新たな医療デバイスの開発に寄与することが期待されます。

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蝸牛の3次元テラヘルツ近接場イメージング評価 Three-dimensional terahertz near-field imaging evaluation of cochlea

Luwei Zheng, Haidong Chen, Takeshi Fujita, Akinobu Kakigi, Nicole Allen, Hironaru Murakami, Masayoshi Tonouchi, and Kazunori Serita
Optica  Published: March 27, 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.543436

テラヘルツ波で耳の病気を見える化 ~内耳蝸牛内部の非破壊3D観察に成功~

Abstract

Hearing impairment has long been a significant challenge, and the ability to perform non-destructive detection of the cochlea’s internal structure with sufficient spatial resolution remains a key obstacle. To address this issue effectively, in this study, non-destructive terahertz (THz) imaging of a mouse cochlea was successfully performed to visualize its internal structure using a THz near-field point source microscope with micrometer-level spatial resolution. Internal structural information was easily observed and extracted from two-dimensional THz time-domain images using an unsupervised learning algorithm that applied k-means clustering. Three-dimensional (3D) THz time-of-flight (ToF) imaging and 3D reconstruction were successfully implemented with high reliability and accuracy. These results demonstrate the significant potential of 2D and 3D THz imaging for high-resolution and non-destructive analysis of cochlear inner structures and highlight the feasibility of advanced THz imaging techniques in biological studies. This work is significant because it motivates both the application of imaging in 3D THz ToF and the internal structure reconstruction of biological tissues, paving the way for future applications in medical diagnostics, particularly in the early detection and assessment of hearing-related disorders.

医療・健康
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