Development of computational high-throughput autofluorescence microscopy by pattern illumination using a low-cost light-emitting diode assisted by deep learning

High-resolution and label-free histological imaging modalities provide cell nuclear contrast that is analogous to standard hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) histological staining. Recently, a rapid and slide-free imaging technique, termed computational high-throughput autofluorescence microscopy by pattern illumination (CHAMP), has been developed to image thick and unprocessed tissues with subcellular resolution. Here, we propose a fast and low-cost light-emitting diode (LED) based CHAMP imaging system assisted by deep learning. The low-resolution widefield LED images can be translated into high-resolution LED-CHAMP images that highly resemble Laser-CHAMP images by enhanced super-resolution generative adversarial networks (ESRGAN). Moreover, LED-CHAMP images can be further translated into virtual H&E-stained images comparable to standard H&E histology by virtual staining models. The versatility of LEDCHAMP is experimentally demonstrated using mouse brain thin slices and thick sections, which takes only five minutes for imaging tissue surface area with 10 × 10 mm2. The promising LED-CHAMP workflow enables fast, low-cost, and comparable image quality for intraoperative assessment.