Quantitative photoacoustic measurement of tissue optical absorption spectrum aided by an optical contrast agent

In photoacoustic imaging, the intensity of photoacoustic signal induced by optical absorption in biological tissue is proportional to light energy deposition, which is the product of the absorption coefficient and the local light fluence. Because tissue optical properties are highly dependent on the wavelength, the spectrum of the local light fluence at a target tissue beneath the sample surface is different than the spectrum of the incident light fluence. Therefore, quantifying the tissue optical absorption spectrum by using a photoacoustic technique is not feasible without the knowledge of the local light fluence. In this work, a highly accurate photoacoustic measurement of the subsurface tissue optical absorption spectrum has been achieved for the first time by introducing an extrinsic optical contrast agent with known optical properties. From the photoacoustic measurements with and without the contrast agent, a quantified measurement of the chromophore absorption spectrum can be realized in a strongly scattering medium. Experiments on micro-flow vessels containing fresh canine blood buried in phantoms and chicken breast tissues were carried out in a wavelength range from 680 nm to 950 nm. Spectroscopic photoacoustic measurements of both oxygenated and deoxygenated blood specimens presented an improved match with the references when employing this technique.