The employment of contrast agents in photoacoustic imaging has gained significant attention within the past few years
for their biomedical applications. In this study, the use of silica-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide (Fe3O4)
nanoparticles (SPION) was investigated as a contrast agent in biomedical photoacoustic imaging. SPIONs have been
widely used as Food-and-Drug-Administration (FDA)-approved contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
and are known to have an excellent safety profile. Using our frequency-domain photoacoustic correlation technique
(“the photoacoustic radar") with modulated laser excitation, we examined the effects of nanoparticle size, concentration
and biological medium (e.g. serum, sheep blood) on its photoacoustic response in turbid media (intralipid solution).
Maximum detection depth and minimum measurable SPION concentration were determined experimentally. The
detection was performed using a single element transducer. The nanoparticle-induced optical contrast ex vivo in dense
muscular tissues (avian pectus) was evaluated using a phased array photoacoustic probe and the strong potential of silicacoated
SPION as a possible photoacoustic contrast agent was demonstrated. This study opens the way for future clinical
applications of nanoparticle-enhanced photoacoustic imaging in cancer therapy.
We report the development of a novel frequency-domain biomedical photoacoustic (PA) system that utilizes a
continuous-wave laser source with a custom intensity modulation pattern for spatially-resolved imaging of biological
tissues. The feasibility of using relatively long duration and low optical power laser sources for spatially-resolved PA
imaging is presented. We demonstrate that B-mode PA imaging can be performed using an ultrasonic phased array
coupled with multi-channel correlation processing and a
frequency-domain beamforming algorithm. Application of the
frequency-domain PA correlation methodology is shown using
tissue-like phantoms with embedded optical contrast,
tissue ex-vivo samples and a small animal model in-vivo.
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