Recent advancements in sources and detectors operating in the NIR-II wavelengths have driven the emergence of NIR-II intrinsic microscopy. These significant technological strides were necessary because longer wavelengths are known to experience reduced scattering and absorption in biological tissue. Leveraging this optical advantage, the application of the NIR-II spectral domain in microscopy holds the potential to improve the depth of imaging and preserve coherence depth. In this study, we showcase the integration of phase-contrast imaging into a NIR-II reflectance confocal microscope for cortical imaging. By capturing images of cortical cell bodies at depths of up to 800 μm, we demonstrate that the implementation of phase contrast provides clear delineation of cortical cell edges, including myelinated axons, blood vessels, and cortical cell bodies. Additionally, we devised a computational method to enhance dynamic components and generate a digitized vascular network from the acquired images.
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