Abstract

An organoid is a self-organizing, miniaturized model of an organ that recapitulates the architecture and physiology of the tissue of origin. With their high resemblance to the structure and function of real organs, organoids have shown enormous potential for studying organ development and growth, as well as modeling diseases in vitro. In organoid studies, optical coherence tomography (OCT), a coherence-based imaging technology, has garnered significant attention as an emerging tool for 3-dimensional organoid imaging. This modality enables the direct observation and monitoring of organoid structure and intercellular events at micrometer-scale resolution and millimeter-scale imaging depth, encompassing the entire body of the organoid. In this paper, we introduce the applications of OCT to recent organoid research, outlining several studies on OCT for the structural and functional imaging of different types of organoids. This review aims to inform bioengineers involved in biomedicine about OCT technologies that could be beneficial for their organoid research.