Engineered microsphere contrast agents for optical coherence tomography.
Contrast agents are utilized in virtually every imaging modality to enhance diagnostic capabilities. We introduce a novel class of optical contrast agent, namely, encapsulating microspheres, that are based not on fluorescence but on scattering nanoparticles within the shell or core. The agents are suitable for reflection- or scattering-based techniques such as optical coherence tomography, light microscopy, and reflectance confocal microscopy. We characterize the optical properties of gold-, melanin-, and carbon-shelled contrast agents and demonstrate enhancement of optical coherence tomography imaging after intravenous injection of such an agent into a mouse.
Lee
Tin Man
TM
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
Oldenburg
Amy L
AL
Sitafalwalla
Shoeb
S
Marks
Daniel L
DL
Luo
Wei
W
Toublan
Farah Jean-Jacques
FJ
Suslick
Kenneth S
KS
Boppart
Stephen A
SA
D000818:Animals; D003287:Contrast Media; D008099:Liver / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008863:Microspheres; D036103:Nanotechnology; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D014054:Tomography
D003287:Contrast Media