Detection of glycosaminoglycan loss in articular cartilage by fluorescence lifetime imaging

Glycosaminoglycan (GAG) loss is an early marker of osteoarthritis, which is a clinical late stage disease that affects millions of people worldwide. The goal of our study was to evaluate the ability of a fiber-based fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIm) technique to detect GAG loss in articular cartilage. Native bovine cartilage explants ([Formula: see text]) were exposed to 0 (control), 0.5 (low), or [Formula: see text] (high) concentrations of chondroitinase ABC (cABC) to create samples with different levels of GAG loss. FLIm assessment (excitation: 355 nm; detection: channel 1: 375 to 410 nm, channel 2: 450 to 485 nm, channel 3: 530 to 565 nm) was conducted on depth-resolved cross-sections of the cartilage sample. FLIm images, validated with histology, revealed that loss of GAG resulted in a decrease of fluorescence lifetime values in channel 2 ([Formula: see text] , [Formula: see text]) and channel 3 ([Formula: see text] , [Formula: see text]) compared to control samples (channel 2: 6.34 ns; channel 3: 5.22 ns). Fluorescence intensity ratio values were lower in channel 1 (37%, [Formula: see text]) and channel 2 (31% decrease, [Formula: see text]) and higher in channel 3 (23%, [Formula: see text]) relative to control samples. These results show that FLIm can detect the loss of GAG in articular cartilage and support further investigation into the feasibility of in vivo FLIm arthroscopy.