Using optical coherence tomography for the longitudinal non-invasive evaluation of epidermal thickness in a murine model of chronic skin inflammation

Background Noninvasive methods are desirable for longitudinal studies examining drug efficacy and disease resolution defined as decreases in epidermal thickness in mouse models of psoriasiform skin disease. This would eliminate the need for either sacrificing animals or collecting serial skin biopsies to evaluate changes in disease progression during an individual study. Quantification of epidermal thickness using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) provides an alternative to traditional histology techniques.