Fig. 1. Reconstruction process of scattering coefficient distribution image

Fig. 2. OCT image and scattering coefficient distribution of the multilayer dielectric scattering model. (a) OCT intensity image; (b) scattering coefficient distribution calculated by the proposed method; (c) scattering curve corresponding to the model at the white dotted frame in Fig.2(b)

Fig. 3. OCT intensity images and scattering images of C3A cell suspension with different concentrations. (a1)-(a4) OCT intensity images; (b1)-(b4) OCT scattering images

Fig. 4. Frequency distribution histograms of OCT intensity and scattering coefficient for cell suspension with different concentrations. (a1)-(a4) Signal intensity; (b1)-(b4) scattering coefficient

Fig. 5. Relationship between the parameters of the maximum frequency of the distribution histograms and the cell concentration. (a) Relationship between intensity and cell concentration; (b) relationship among scattering coefficient, distance between background peak and cell characteristic peak, and cell concentration

Fig. 6. OCT intensity images and scattering images of cell-free and cell-containing hydrogel scaffolds. (a1) OCT intensity image of cell-free scaffold; (a2) OCT intensity image of cell-containing scaffold; (b1) scattering image of cell-free scaffold; (b2) scattering image of cell-containing scaffold

Fig. 7. Histogram of signal intensity and scattering coefficient of hydrogel scaffold. (a) Intensity distribution of the PBS buffer solution; (b) intensity distribution of cell-free scaffold; (c) intensity distribution of cell-containing scaffold; (d) scattering corefficient distribution of PBS buffer solution; (e) scattering corefficient distribution of cell-free scaffold; (f) Scattering corefficient distribution cell-containing scaffold

Fig. 8. Comparison of OCT intensity images, scattering images and H&E stained sections for hydrogel scaffolds. (a1) OCT intensity image of cell-free hydrogel scaffold; (a2) OCT intensity image of cell-containing hydrogel scaffold; (b1) scattering image of cell-free hydrogel scaffold; (b2) scattering image of cell-containing hydrogel scaffold; (c1) stained sections image of cell-free hydrogel scaffold; (c2) stained sections image of cell-containing hydrogel scaffold

Table 1. Intensity and scattering coefficient, and their standard deviation at the peak of frequency of histogram