Cardiodynamics and hemodynamics are important factors regulating heart development, but dynamic 3D imaging of a beating embryonic heart has been challenging due to high requirements for both imaging scale and speed. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has a unique imaging scale for 3D embryonic heart imaging in various animal models. However, the general imaging speed of OCT can only provide limited spatiotemporal sampling in direct volumetric acquisition of a beating heart. Here, we present an open-source, post-acquisition synchronization method that requires just a single, densely sampled linear 3D scan but generates superior 4D (3D+time) imaging quality with a high efficiency.
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