In vitro study of ultrasound and different-concentration glycerol-induced changes in human skin optical attenuation assessed with optical coherence tomography

Investigating the optical clearing effects of 50% glycerol in ex vivo human skin by harmonic generation microscopy

Imaging depth and quality of optical microscopy can be enhanced by optical clearing. Here we investigate the optical clearing of the ex vivo human skin by 50% glycerol topical application, which is allowed for cosmetic usage. Harmonic generation microscopy, by combining second and third harmonic generation (THG) modalities, was utilized to examine the clearing effect. The THG image intensity is sensitive to the improved optical homogeneity after optical clearing, and the second harmonic generation (SHG) image intensity in the dermis could serve as a beacon to confirm the reduction of the scattering in the epidermis layer. As a result, our study supports the OC effect through 50% glycerol topical application. Our study further indicates the critical role of stratum corneum shrinkage for the observed SHG and THG signal recovery.

Rapid Ultrasound Optical Clearing of Human Light and Dark Skin

Application of optical clearing of biological tissue in humans in vivo is challenging due to toxicity of chemical agents, long processing time (≥30 min), and moderate (1.3-1.5-fold) imaging depth improvement. Here, we introduce novel, robust, and rapid ultrasound-based optical clearing of human skin without chemical agents that provides dramatic (up to 10-fold) reducing processing time down to 2-5 min. We discovered that ultrasound alone can increase a light depth penetration for optical coherence tomography (OCT) up to ~1.5-fold during 2 min. Nevertheless, sequent application of microdermabrasion, oleic acid and ultrasound allowed increasing OCT signal amplitude up to 3.3-fold with more than twice improved depth penetration during 30 min that was not demonstrated with other approaches. Comparison of these effects in light and dark skin revealed similarity of the optical clearing mechanisms. However, for combined optical clearing, only 1.34-fold increase in OCT signal amplitude was achieved for dark skin.

Biomedical Applications of Tissue Clearing and Three-Dimensional Imaging in Health and Disease

Three-dimensional (3D) optical imaging techniques can expand our knowledge about physiological and pathological processes that cannot be fully understood with 2D approaches. Standard diagnostic tests frequently are not sufficient to unequivocally determine the presence of a pathological condition. Whole-organ optical imaging requires tissue transparency, which can be achieved by using tissue clearing procedures enabling deeper image acquisition and therefore making possible the analysis of large-scale biological tissue samples. Here, we review currently available clearing agents, methods, and their application in imaging of physiological or pathological conditions in different animal and human organs. We also compare different optical tissue clearing methods discussing their advantages and disadvantages and review the use of different 3D imaging techniques for the visualization and image acquisition of cleared tissues. The use of optical tissue clearing resources for large-scale biological tissues 3D imaging paves the way for future applications in translational and clinical research.

Integrated effects of fractional laser microablation and sonophoresis on skin immersion optical clearing in vivo

This study is aimed to find an approach for effective skin optical clearing in vivo using polyethylene glycol 300 (PEG-300) as an optical clearing agent in combination with physical enhancers: fractional laser microablation (FLMA) and/or low-frequency sonophoresis. In this study albino outbred rats were used. Light attenuation coefficient and optical clearing potential (OCP) of these approaches were evaluated in upper (from ~70 to ~200 μm) and middle (from ~200 to ~400 μm) dermis separately using optical coherence tomography. In 30 minutes, OCP of sonophoresis in combination with FLMA and PEG-300 in the upper dermis was the maximal (2.3 ± 0.4) in comparison with other treatments in this time point. The most effective approach for optical clearing of middle dermis was PEG-300 and sonophoresis; but the maximal value of OCP (1.6 ± 0.1) was achieved only in 90 minutes.

Two optical coherence tomography systems detect topical gold nanoshells in hair follicles, sweat ducts and measure epidermis

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an established imaging technology for in vivo skin investigation. Topical application of gold nanoshells (GNS) provides contrast enhancement in OCT by generating a strong hyperreflective signal from hair follicles and sweat glands, which are the natural skin openings. This study explores the utility of 150 nm diameter GNS as contrast agent for OCT imaging. GNS was massaged into skin and examined in four skin areas of 11 healthy volunteers. A commercial OCT system and a prototype with 3 μm resolution (UHR-OCT) were employed to detect potential benefits of increased resolution and variability in intensity generated by the GNS. In both OCT-systems GNS enhanced contrast from hair follicles and sweat ducts. Highest average penetration depth of GNS was in armpit 0.64 mm ± SD 0.17, maximum penetration depth was 1.20 mm in hair follicles and 15 to 40 μm in sweat ducts. Pixel intensity generated from GNS in hair follicles was significantly higher in UHR-OCT images (P = .002) and epidermal thickness significantly lower 0.14 vs 0.16 mm (P = .027). This study suggests that GNSs are interesting candidates for increasing sensitivity in OCT diagnosis of hair and sweat gland disorders and demonstrates that choice of OCT systems influences results.

In Vivo Detection of the Effect of Electroacupuncture on "Zusanli" Acupoint in Rats with Adjuvant-Induced Arthritis through Optical Coherence Tomography

This study aimed to investigate the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) treatment through optical coherence tomography (OCT) in vivo on rats with adjuvant-induced arthritis. OCT images were obtained from the ankle of the right hind paws of the rats in control, model, and EA groups before modelling and 1 day, 8 days, 15 days, 22 days, and 29 days after modelling. Results demonstrated that the OCT signal of the ankle of the right hind paws of the rats was indistinct compared to 1 day after modelling and before modelling in the EA group. In the EA group, the light averaged attenuation coefficients of the ankle tissues decreased as treatment duration was prolonged after EA was administered (3.43, 2.96, 2.61, 2.42, and 2.29 mm⁻¹, resp.). There was a significant difference in attenuation coefficient decrease between the 29th d and the 1st d for EA group compared with control group (P < 0.01). This condition indicated that the light absorption of the ankle of the treated rats in the EA group decreased. Therefore, OCT can be used to monitor the effect of treatment on rats with arthritis in vivo.

Optical clearing for luminal organ imaging with ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography

The imaging depth of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in highly scattering biological tissues (such as luminal organs) is limited, particularly for OCT operating at shorter wavelength regions (such as around 800 nm). For the first time, the optical clearing effect of the mixture of liquid paraffin and glycerol on luminal organs was explored with ultrahigh-resolution spectral domain OCT at 800 nm. Ex vivo studies were performed on pig esophagus and bronchus, and guinea pig esophagus with different volume ratios of the mixture. We found that the mixture of 40% liquid paraffin had the best optical clearing effect on esophageal tissues with a short effective time of ∼ 10 min, which means the clearing effect occurs about 10 min after the application of the clearing agent. In contrast, no obvious optical clearing effect was identified on bronchus tissues.

Ex vivo optical measurements of glucose diffusion kinetics in native and diabetic mouse skin

The aim of this study was to estimate the glucose diffusion coefficients ex vivo in skin of mice with diabetes induced in vivo by alloxan in comparison to non-diabetic mice. The temporal dependences of collimated transmittance of tissue samples immersed in glucose solutions were measured in the VIS-NIR spectral range to quantify the glucose diffusion/permeability coefficients and optical clearing efficiency of mouse skin. The average thickness of intact healthy and diabetic skin was 0.023 ± 0.006 cm and 0.019 ± 0.005 cm, respectively. Considerable differences in optical and kinetic properties of diabetic and non-diabetic skin were found: clearing efficiency was 1.5-fold better and glucose diffusivity was 2-fold slower for diabetic skin. Experimental Setup for measuring collimated transmittance spectra of mouse skin samples.

Evaluation of ultrasound and glucose synergy effect on the optical clearing and light penetration for human colon tissue using SD-OCT

Topical application optical clearing agents (OCAs) can effectively enhance the tissue optical clearing on the human colon tissue, which has been demonstrated in our previous studies. Nevertheless, the strong light scattering still limits the diffusion rate of OCAs and penetration depth of light into the tissue. In this study, in order to further increase the diffusion of the OCA of glucose into tissue, we employ a method to improve the glucose permeability and light penetration with ultrasound (sonophoretic delivery, SP) and glucose (G) synergy on human normal and cancerous colon tissues in vitro, which was measured and quantified with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) technology. To evaluate the effect of ultrasound mediation, the percentages of OCT signal enhancement (PSE) and 1/e light-penetration depth were calculated for G alone and ultrasound-G treatments. The PSE was calculated at approximately 313 μm from the sample tissue surface. For normal and cancerous colon tissues the PSE were about 91.1 ± 10.6% and 65.3% ± 12.3% with 30% G/SP, but for the 30% G alone treatment it was about 78.6 ± 11.2% and 54.5% ± 9.3%, respectively. The max value of 1/e light-penetration depth for normal colon tissue was 0.47 ± 0.02 mm with 30% G alone and 0.60 ± 0.05 mm (p < 0.05)with 30% G/SP synergy. However, for the cancerous colon tissue the max value was 0.45 ± 0.01 mm and 0.57 ± 0.03 mm (p < 0.05), respectively. The obtained permeability coefficients showed a significant enhancement with ultrasound mediation. The mean permeability coefficients of 30% G/SP in normal and cancerous colon tissues were (6.3 ± 0.16) × 10(-6) cm/s and (12.1 ± 0.34) × 10(-6) cm/s (p < 0.05), respectively. These preliminary experiments showed that ultrasound can effectively enhance the tissue optical clearing and glucose diffusion rate as well as increase the light-penetration depth into biotissues.

Recent progress in tissue optical clearing

Tissue optical clearing technique provides a prospective solution for the application of advanced optical methods in life sciences. This paper gives a review of recent developments in tissue optical clearing techniques. The physical, molecular and physiological mechanisms of tissue optical clearing are overviewed and discussed. Various methods for enhancing penetration of optical-clearing agents into tissue, such as physical methods, chemical-penetration enhancers and combination of physical and chemical methods are introduced. Combining the tissue optical clearing technique with advanced microscopy image or labeling technique, applications for 3D microstructure of whole tissues such as brain and central nervous system with unprecedented resolution are demonstrated. Moreover, the difference in diffusion and/or clearing ability of selected agents in healthy versus pathological tissues can provide a highly sensitive indicator of the tissue health/pathology condition. Finally, recent advances in optical clearing of soft or hard tissue for in vivo imaging and phototherapy are introduced. [Formula: see text].

Enhanced optical clearing of skin in vivo and optical coherence tomography in-depth imaging

The strong optical scattering of skin tissue makes it very difficult for optical coherence tomography (OCT) to achieve deep imaging in skin. Significant optical clearing of in vivo rat skin sites was achieved within 15 min by topical application of an optical clearing agent PEG-400, a chemical enhancer (thiazone or propanediol), and physical massage. Only when all three components were applied together could a 15 min treatment achieve a three fold increase in the OCT reflectance from a 300 μm depth and 31% enhancement in image depth Z(threshold).

Optical clearing of porcine skin tissue in vitro studied by Raman microspectroscopy

In present work, we studied the effect of optical clearing on porcine skin in vitro with glycerol by Raman microspectroscopy, denoted as RM, at various time intervals of 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 min respectively. The results showed that the addition of glycerol significantly improved the depth of RM measurement, and enhanced the recovery of skin tissue Raman spectra that were not overlapped with the glycerol Raman spectra over time. Moreover, it was found that the Raman signals resembled the native spectrum of the molecules in porcine skin with a negligible frequency shift. Furthermore, we evaluated the extent of optical clearing in porcine skin by utilizing various concentrations of 40%, 60%, and 80% glycerol solution. The results demonstrated that with the increase of concentration of glycerol, the optical clearing of porcine skin was much improved.

In vivo and in situ cellular imaging full-field optical coherence tomography with a rigid endoscopic probe

Full-field OCT has proved to be a powerful high-resolution cellular imaging tool for biological tissues. However the standard bulk full-field OCT setup does not match the size requirements for most in situ and in vivo imaging applications. We adapted its principle into a rigid needle-like probe using two coupled interferometers and incoherent illumination: an external processing interferometer is used for in-depth scanning, while a distal common-path interferometer at the tip of the probe collects light backscattered from the tissue. Our experimental setup achieves an axial and transversal resolution in tissue of 1.8 µm and 3.5 µm respectively, for a sensitivity of -80 dB. We present ex vivo images of human breast tissue, and in vivo images of different areas of human skin, which reveal cellular-level structures.

Ultrasound-mediated transdermal drug delivery: mechanisms, scope, and emerging trends

The use of ultrasound for the delivery of drugs to, or through, the skin is commonly known as sonophoresis or phonophoresis. The use of therapeutic and high frequencies of ultrasound (≥0.7MHz) for sonophoresis (HFS) dates back to as early as the 1950s, while low-frequency sonophoresis (LFS, 20-100kHz) has only been investigated significantly during the past two decades. Although HFS and LFS are similar because they both utilize ultrasound to increase the skin penetration of permeants, the mechanisms associated with each physical enhancer are different. Specifically, the location of cavitation and the extent to which each process can increase skin permeability are quite dissimilar. Although the applications of both technologies are different, they each have strengths that could allow them to improve current methods of local, regional, and systemic drug delivery. In this review, we will discuss the mechanisms associated with both HFS and LFS, specifically concentrating on the key mechanistic differences between these two skin treatment methods. Background on the relevant physics associated with ultrasound transmitted through aqueous media will also be discussed, along with implications of these phenomena on sonophoresis. Finally, a thorough review of the literature is included, dating back to the first published reports of sonophoresis, including a discussion of emerging trends in the field.