Versatile confocal/optical coherence tomography system for embryonic developmental imaging

An Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging system has been designed and constructed to acquire images of scattering biological samples. By simultaneously acquiring and displaying high resolution en-face (C-scan) OCT and Laser Scanning Confocal images of Drosophila melanogaster embryos we demonstrate the potential of the system to be used as a powerful tool for imaging in Drosophila embryonic development. The system can equally be used for non invasive visualizations and measurements of the movement of Drosophila melanogaster larval heart and can easily be switched in the OCT B-scan regime. The confocal channel adds guidance as the specimen can be quickly located and this makes the use of the system in a large scale gene screen feasible.