The potential of spatially resolved spectroscopy for monitoring angiogenesis in the chorioallantoic membrane

Over the last decade, the poultry sector has sought to develop ways to monitor chicken embryonic development as to optimize the incubation conditions. One of the parameters of development which may change under different incubation conditions is the angiogenesis in the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). To be able to quantify these changes in the angiogenesis and detect long-term effects on health, a non-destructive technique is necessary. In this article, the first steps toward such a non-destructive technique are successfully taken. A spatially resolved spectroscopy set-up is built and tested for its potential to measure changes in angiogenesis with incubation time, and differences between a normal and hypercapnic incubation. In this first study, reflectance measurements are performed directly on the CAM as the eggshell considerably complicates the analysis. This issue should be addressed in future research to come to a really non-destructive technique. An experiment was conducted in which one group was incubated under normal conditions, and another under early prenatal hypercapnic conditions (i.e., increased CO(2) concentrations). The angiogenesis in the CAM was measured at embryonic day (ED) 10, 13, and 16. The measurements showed a clear blood spectrum with an increasing amount of blood in time, and significant differences in the reflectance as function of the source-detector distances. However, no significant differences between the hypercapnia and the control group could be detected.