Efficient label-free in vivo photoacoustic imaging of melanoma cells using a condensed NIR-I spectral window

Soon-Woo Cho; Thi Tuong Vy Phan; Van Tu Nguyen; Sang Min Park; Hwidon Lee; Junghwan Oh; Chang-Seok Kim

doi:10.1016/j.pacs.2023.100456

Efficient label-free in vivo photoacoustic imaging of melanoma cells using a condensed NIR-I spectral window

Photoacoustics. 2023 Jan 27:29:100456. doi: 10.1016/j.pacs.2023.100456. eCollection 2023 Feb.

Authors

Soon-Woo Cho¹, Thi Tuong Vy Phan^{2

3}, Van Tu Nguyen⁴, Sang Min Park⁵, Hwidon Lee^{6

7}, Junghwan Oh^{8

9}, Chang-Seok Kim^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Engineering Research Center for Color-modulated Extra-sensory Perception Technology, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, the Republic of Korea.
² Center for Advanced Chemistry, Institute of Research and Development, Duy Tan University, Danang 550000, Viet Nam.
³ Department of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Duy Tan University, Danang 550000, Viet Nam.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
⁵ Department of Cogno-Mechatronics Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, the Republic of Korea.
⁶ Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts MA 02115, USA.
⁷ Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, 40 Blossom Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
⁸ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan 48513, the Republic of Korea.
⁹ Ohlabs Corporation, Busan 48513, the Republic of Korea.

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an efficient label-free in vivo photoacoustic (PA) imaging of melanoma using a condensed near infrared-I (NIR-I) supercontinuum light source. Although NIR-II spectral window is advantageous such as longer penetration depth compared to the NIR-I region, supercontinuum light sources emitting both NIR-I and NIR-II region could lower the efficiency to target melanoma because of low optical power density in the melanoma's absorption spectra. To exploit efficient in vivo PA imaging of melanoma, we demonstrated the light source emitting from visible (532-600 nm) to NIR-I (600-1000 nm) by optimizing stimulated Raman scattering induced supercontinuum generation. The melanoma's structure is successfully differentiated from blood vessels at a high pulse energy of 2.5 µJ and a flexible pulse repetition rate (PRR) of 5-50 kHz. The proposed light source with the microjoules energies and tens of kHz of PRR can potentially accelerate clinical trials such as early diagnosis of melanoma.

Keywords: Fiber laser; High-speed; Melanoma; Near-infrared; Nonlinear effect; Photoacoustic microscopy; Stimulated Raman scattering; Supercontinuum.