Application of second harmonic generation imaging in tendinopathy research

Second harmonic generation imaging (SHG-IM), as a novel nonlinear optical imaging technique, has been widely used in biomedical research. This label-free imaging technique has many advantages, such as higher spatial resolution, greater depth of penetration, higher singal-noise ratio, less photobleaching, nonphototoxicity and so on. The tendon tissues are rich in collagen fi bers, which exhibit endogenous SHG signals. Therefore, tendons can be well studied by SHG-IM technique. In this review, we have overviewed the characteristics of the SHG-IM technique, and discussed the difficulties and prospect of applications of SHG-IM in tendinopathy research.