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Multimodal imaging with photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) can be an effective method to evaluate the choroidal and retinal microvasculature. To improve the efficiency for visualizing capillaries, colloidal gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been applied as a multimodal contrast agent for both OCT and PAM imaging by taking advantage of the strong optical scattering and the strong optical absorption of AuNPs due to their surface plasmon resonance. Ultra-pure AuNPs were fabricated by femtosecond laser ablation, capped with polyethylene glycol (PEG), and administered to 13 New Zealand white rabbits and 3 Dutch Belted pigmented rabbits. The synthesized PEG-AuNPs (20.0 ± 1.5 nm) were demonstrated to be excellent contrast agents for PAM and OCT, and do not demonstrate cytotoxicity to bovine retinal endothelial cells in cell studies. The image signal from the retinal and choroidal vessels in living rabbits was enhanced by up to 82% for PAM and up to 45% for OCT, respectively, by the administered PEG-AuNPs, which enables detection of individual blood vessels by both imaging modalities. The biodistribution study demonstrated the AuNP accumulated primarily in the liver and spleen. Histology and TUNEL staining did not indicate cell injury or death in the lung, liver, kidney, spleen, heart, or eyes up to seven days after AuNP administration. PEG-AuNPs offer an efficient and safe contrast agent for multimodal ocular imaging to achieve improved characterization of microvasculature.

Joint high-resolution multimodal photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) was developed to improve the efficiency for visualizing newly developed retinal neovascularization (RNV) and to monitor the dynamic changes of retinal vein occlusion (RVO) in living rabbits. The RNV and RVO models were created in New Zealand rabbits by Rose Bengal laser-induced RVO. Dual modalities imaging equipment, including color fundus photography, fluorescein angiography (FA), OCT, and PAM, was used to image and assess the changes of retinal vasculature. In vivo experimental results exhibited that not only the treatment boundaries and the position of the occluded vasculature but also the structure of individual RNV were markedly observed using PAM platform with great resolution and high image contrast. The laser light energy of 80 nJ was used to induce photoacoustic signal, which is approximately half the energy of the American National Standards Institute safety limit. A cross-sectional structure of RNV was identified with the OCT modality. Furthermore, vibrant transformations in the RNV and the retinal morphology were examined at different times after laser occlusion: days 4, 28, 35, 49, and 90. PAM revealed high contrast and high resolution vascular imaging of the retina and choroid with amplified penetration depth. Through the present custom-built imaging system, both RNV and RVO can be reconstructed and observed in two and three dimensions. A unique dual modality A unique dual modality PAM and OCT can help precisely visualize and distinguish individual microvessels, microvessel depth, and the surrounding anatomy. Thus, the proposed multimodal ocular imaging platform may offer a potential equipment to enhance classification of microvasculature in a reliable and proficient manner in larger rabbit eyes.

Mid-infrared (MIR) microscopy provides rich chemical and structural information about biological samples, without staining. Conventionally, the long MIR wavelength severely limits the lateral resolution owing to optical diffraction; moreover, the strong MIR absorption of water ubiquitous in fresh biological samples results in high background and low contrast. To overcome these limitations, we propose a method that employs photoacoustic detection highly localized with a pulsed ultraviolet laser on the basis of the Grüneisen relaxation effect. For cultured cells, our method achieves water-background suppressed MIR imaging of lipids and proteins at ultraviolet resolution, at least an order of magnitude finer than the MIR diffraction limits. Label-free histology using this method is also demonstrated in thick brain slices. Our approach provides convenient high-resolution and high-contrast MIR imaging, which can benefit the diagnosis of fresh biological samples.

Photoacoustic (PA) imaging is an emerging medical imaging modality that combines optical excitation and ultrasound detection. Because ultrasound scatters much less than light in biological tissues, PA generates high-resolution images at centimeters depth. In recent years, wavelengths in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) window (1000 to 1700 nm) have been increasingly explored due to its potential for preclinical and clinical applications. In contrast to the conventional PA imaging in the visible (400 to 700 nm) and the first NIR-I (700 to 1000 nm) window, PA imaging in the NIR-II window offers numerous advantages, including high spatial resolution, deeper penetration depth, reduced optical absorption, and tissue scattering. Moreover, the second window allows a fivefold higher light excitation energy density compared to the visible window for enhancing the imaging depth significantly. We highlight the importance of the second window for PA imaging and discuss the various NIR-II PA imaging systems and contrast agents with strong absorption in the NIR-II spectral region. Numerous applications of NIR-II PA imaging, including whole-body animal imaging and human imaging, are also discussed.

The marked increase in the incidence of melanoma coupled with the rapid drop in the survival rate after metastasis has promoted the investigation into improved diagnostic methods for melanoma. High-frequency ultrasound (US), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and photoacoustic imaging (PAI) are three potential modalities that can assist a dermatologist by providing extra information beyond dermoscopic features. In this study, we imaged a swine model with spontaneous melanoma using these modalities and compared the images with images of nearby healthy skin. Histology images were used for validation.

Photoacoustic measurements are tested as a possible tool for non invasive quantification of Water/Collagen relative content in InterVertebral Discs (IVDs).

Photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) is an emerging imaging technology that can non-invasively visualize ocular structures in animal eyes. This report describes an integrated multimodality imaging system that combines PAM, optical coherence tomography (OCT), and fluorescence microscopy (FM) to evaluate angiogenesis in larger animal eyes. High-resolution in vivo imaging was performed in live rabbit eyes with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-induced retinal neovascularization (RNV). The results demonstrate that our multimodality imaging system can non-invasively visualize RNV in both albino and pigmented rabbits to determine retinal pathology using PAM and OCT and verify the leakage of neovascularization using FM and fluorescein dye. This work presents high-resolution visualization of angiogenesis in rabbits using a multimodality PAM, OCT, and FM system and may represent a major step toward the clinical translation of the technology.

The photoacoustic images are obtained from a custom developed linear array photoacoustic tomography system. The biological specimens are imitated by conducting phantom tests in order to retrieve a fully functional photoacoustic image. The acquired image undergoes the active region based contour filtering to remove the noise and accurately segment the object area for further processing. The universal back projection method is used as the image reconstruction algorithm. The active contour filtering is analyzed by evaluating the signal to noise ratio and comparing it with the other filtering methods.

Photoacoustic Tomography (PAT) is a promising medical imaging modality that combines optical imaging contrast with the spatial resolution of ultrasound imaging. It can also distinguish the changes in biological features. But, real-time PAT system should be confirmed due to photoacoustic effect for tissue. Thus, we have developed a real-time PAT system using a custom-developed data acquisition board and ultrasound linear probe. To evaluate performance of our system, phantom test was performed. As a result of those experiments, the system showed satisfactory performance and its usefulness has been confirmed. We monitored the degradation of inflammation which induced on the rat’s kidney using real-time PAT.

We report a target-enclosing, hybrid tomograph with a total of 768 elements based on capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer technology and providing fast, high-resolution 2-D/3-D photoacoustic and ultrasound tomography tailored to finger imaging.A freely programmable ultrasound beamforming platform sampling data at 80 MHz was developed to realize plane wave transmission under multiple angles. A multiplexing unit enables the connection and control of a large number of elements. Fast image reconstruction is provided by GPU processing. The tomograph is composed of four independent and fully automated movable arc-shaped transducers, allowing imaging of all three finger joints. The system benefits from photoacoustics, yielding high optical contrast and enabling visualization of finger vascularization, and ultrasound provides morphologic information on joints and surrounding tissue. A diode-pumped, Q-switched Nd:YAG laser and an optical parametric oscillator are used to broaden the spectrum of emitted wavelengths to provide multispectral imaging. Custom-made optical fiber bundles enable illumination of the region of interest in the plane of acoustic detection. Precision in positioning of the probe in motion is ensured by use of a motor-driven guide slide. The current position of the probe is encoded by the stage and used to relate ultrasound and photoacoustic signals to the corresponding region of interest of the suspicious finger joint. The system is characterized in phantoms and a healthy human finger in vivo. The results obtained promise to provide new opportunities in finger diagnostics and establish photoacoustic/ultrasoundtomography in medical routine.