Open AccessCross‐evaluation of optimal glycerol concentration to enhance optical tissue clearing efficacy
Author(s) -
Son T.,
Jung B.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
skin research and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.521
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1600-0846
pISSN - 0909-752X
DOI - 10.1111/srt.12196
Subject(s) - glycerol , optical coherence tomography , biomedical engineering , light scattering , ultrasound , permeation , materials science , chemistry , medicine , radiology , scattering , optics , membrane , biochemistry , physics
Background/aims The efficacy of light therapeutic and diagnostic applications can be enhanced by employing optical tissue clearing ( OTC ) agents to minimize light scattering in tissue. This study aimed to investigate the optimal concentration of glycerol, so that it can be efficiently used as an OTC agent in dermatology. Methods Glycerol was topically applied to avoid the possibility of edema that could be caused by dermal injection. The efficacy of glycerol was quantitatively evaluated for various concentrations using optical coherence tomography ( OCT ) to evaluate light scattering and ultrasound imaging modality to evaluate collagen dissociation. Results The intensity in the OCT images in the deeper regions increased over time after glycerol application owing to enhanced light penetration caused by glycerol permeation into the sample. A comparable decrease over time in the collagen distribution was observed in the ultrasound images after glycerol application. Conclusion The optimal concentration of glycerol to maximize OTC was found to be 70%. The finding of this study may provide a guideline regarding the use of glycerol for efficient light diagnosis and therapy in dermatology.