Subwavelength-resolution label-free photoacoustic microscopy of optical absorption in vivo

Abstract

Optical absorption provides essential biological functional information but cannot be sensed by mainstream optical microscopy technologies directly, which detect fluorescence or scattering and may require undesirable labeling. Here we developed in vivo subwavelength-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (SW-PAM) that provides exquisitely high optical-absorption contrast due to nonfluorescent, or fluorescent, endogenous pigments. Having approached the ultimate diffraction-limited optical resolution, SW-PAM can resolve subcellular organelles. Vasculature and early-stage melanoma were imaged with $12\text{:}1$ and $17\text{:}1$ contrasts, respectively, without labeling. SW-PAM along with the scaled-up macroscopy, as the only technology that measures the same contrast origin over such a wide length scale, can potentially accelerate translation from microscopic research to clinical practice.

© 2010 Optical Society of America

Reflection-mode in vivo photoacoustic microscopy with subwavelength lateral resolution

Wei Song, Wei Zheng, Ruimin Liu, Riqiang Lin, Hongtao Huang, Xiaojing Gong, Shousheng Yang, Rui Zhang, and Liang Song
Biomed. Opt. Express 5(12) 4235-4241 (2014)

Label-free imaging of zebrafish larvae in vivo by photoacoustic microscopy

Shuoqi Ye, Ran Yang, Jingwei Xiong, K. Kirk Shung, Qifa Zhou, Changhui Li, and Qiushi Ren
Biomed. Opt. Express 3(2) 360-365 (2012)

Hybrid-scanning optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy for in vivo vasculature imaging

Bin Rao, Li Li, Konstantin Maslov, and Lihong Wang
Opt. Lett. 35(10) 1521-1523 (2010)

Label-free in vivo fiber-based optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy

P. Hajireza, W. Shi, and R. J. Zemp
Opt. Lett. 36(20) 4107-4109 (2011)

In vivo label-free photoacoustic microscopy of cell nuclei by excitation of DNA and RNA

Da-Kang Yao, Konstantin Maslov, Kirk K. Shung, Qifa Zhou, and Lihong V. Wang
Opt. Lett. 35(24) 4139-4141 (2010)