Alginate beads as a highly versatile test-sample for optoacoustic imaging

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Imaging
• Optoacoustic Imaging
• Biomaterials

Background:

• Emerging imaging techniques like optoacoustics (OA) require reliable test samples for development.
• Current methods for creating such samples can be complex and lack reproducibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simple, rapid, and reproducible method for producing alginate beads (AlBes) for OA imaging.
• To demonstrate the utility of AlBes in evaluating OA imaging approaches and instrumentation.

Main Methods:

• Alginate beads (AlBes) were fabricated with controllable size and photophysical properties.
• Labeled mammalian or bacterial cells were incorporated into AlBes.
• Multispectral OA tomography imaging was used to test AlBes in various applications.

Main Results:

• A straightforward and efficient method for reproducible AlBe production was established.
• AlBes demonstrated effectiveness as defined, homogeneous signal sources for OA imaging.
• Example applications showcased the advantage of AlBes for studying photo-switching OA imaging.

Conclusions:

• Alginate beads (AlBes) are a versatile and valuable tool for advancing optoacoustic imaging research.
• AlBes facilitate the benchmarking of new labeling agents, instrumentation, and image analysis algorithms.
• The defined nature of AlBes makes them suitable for investigating various aspects of OA image formation.