Tartrazine-enhanced visible-light OCT for deep-tissue imaging.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Optics
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Visible-light optical coherence tomography (vis-OCT) offers high resolution but struggles with deep tissue imaging due to scattering and absorption.
• Limited penetration depth restricts vis-OCT applications in thicker biological tissues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate tartrazine as a contrast enhancer for improving vis-OCT penetration and structural visibility.
• To assess the efficacy of tartrazine in various biological tissues, both ex vivo and in vivo.

Main Methods:

• Systematic evaluation of tartrazine-assisted vis-OCT imaging in postmortem chicken muscle, optic nerve, and brain cortex.
• In vivo assessment of tartrazine's effects on vis-OCT imaging at the ocular limbus and mouse ear.
• Application of low-concentration tartrazine solutions via topical application or surface immersion.

Main Results:

• Tartrazine significantly improved vis-OCT signal in deep tissues.
• Enhanced signal-to-noise ratio, extended penetration depth, and improved structural contrast were observed.
• Effective imaging was achieved across multiple tissue types and in vivo models.

Conclusions:

• Tartrazine is an effective, safe, and inexpensive optical clearing and contrast-enhancing agent for vis-OCT.
• Tartrazine enables deeper and higher-fidelity imaging of biological tissues.
• This approach broadens the applicability of vis-OCT for biological research and clinical diagnostics.