Photoacoustic imaging exploits contrast mechanisms that depend on optical and thermomechanical properties of
optical absorbers. The photoacoustic signal bandwidth is dictated by the absorber size and the laser pulse width. In this
work we demonstrate that photoacoustic signals can be detected from micron and sub-micron particles. We anticipate
applications to include cellular imaging with nanometer sized contrast agents such as gold nanoshells, nanorods, and
nanocages.
An existing acoustic microscopy system was used (the SASAM 1000, kibero GmbH). This platform is developed on
an Olympus IX81 optical microscope with a rotating column that has an optical condenser for transmission optical
microscopy and an acoustic module for the acoustic microscopy. The adapted optoacoustic module consists of a Qswitched
Nd:YAG solid-state-laser (Teem Photonics, France) generating
sub-nanosecond pulses. Scans were acquired of
microparticles (1 μm black Toner particles) and cells.
The confocal arrangement allowed high signal to noise ratio photoacoustic signals (>30 dB) to be detected at
approximately 400 MHz. The particles of various sizes produced signals of different frequency content. In imaging
mode, the full width half maximum (FWHM) was measured to be 3.6 μm for the 400 MHz transducer which is in
general agreement theory for a 0.3 NA objective (4.3μm). Moreover, images are generated from single melanoma cells,
generated by the endogenous contrast from the intracellular melanin.
With increasing demand for in-vivo observation of living cells, microscope techniques that do not need staining become
more and more important. In this talk we present a combined multi-photon-acoustic microscope with the possibility to
measure synchronously properties addressed by ultrasound and two-photon fluorescence. Ultrasound probes the local
mechanical properties of a cell, while the high resolution image of the two-photon fluorescence delivers insight in cell
morphology and activity. In the acoustic part of the microscope an ultrasound wave, with a frequency of GHz, is
focused by an acoustic sapphire lens and detected by a piezo electric transducer assembled to the lens. The achieved
lateral resolution is in the range of 1&mgr;m. Contrast in the images arises mainly from the local absorption of sound in the
cells, related to properties, such as mass density, stiffness and viscose damping. Additionally acoustic microscopy can
access the cell shape and the state of the cell membrane as it is a intrinsic volume scanning technique.The optical part
bases on the emission of fluorescent biomolecules naturally present in cells (e.g. NAD(P)H, protophorphyrin IX,
lipofuscin, melanin). The nonlinear effect of two-photon absorption provides a high lateral and axial resolution without
the need of confocal detection. In addition, in the near-IR cell damages are drastically reduced in comparison to direct
excitation in the visible or UV. Both methods can be considered as minimal invasive, as they relay on intrinsic contrast
mechanisms and dispense with the need of staining. First results on living cells are presented and discussed.
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