Effect of indocyanin green formulation on blood clearance and in vivo fluorescence kinetic profile of skin

Indocyanine green has been used to measure cardiac and liver functions. More recently, it has been proposed as a contrast agent in ophthalmic angiography, tumor imaging and as an infrared absorbing dye in the context of laser-induced thermal damage of blood vessels. The aim of the study is to overcome the disadvantage of a very short blood half-time and to participate to a better confinement in blood vessels. Indocyanine green was administered intravenously to Wistar rats at a 7.5 mg/kg dose. Formulations consist in indocyanine green aqueous solution and o/w emulsion. Blood samples were collected and analyzed by spectrophotometry. Fluorescence was recorded in vivo by spectrofluorometry using an optic fiber coupled to an optical multichannel analyzer. The fiber optic was placed at a 4 mm distance from the skin surface. Results show that aqueous solution of indocyanine green leads to a rapid blood clearance. To the administration of ICG emulsion belongs the advantage of increasing the half-time and the residence time of indocyanine green in skin. It may be noted that however the formulation is, the observed blood clearance profiles are quite different from the tissue fluorescence kinetic profiles. The dye could have a longer residence time (20 - 60 min. plateau phase). Moreover, a shift of the maximum emission peak is noted after i.v. administration. The study of ICG fluorescence in the presence of model membranes shows that ICG is able to interact with phospholipid bilayers. These findings may be interesting for therapeutic applications of indocyanine green requiring a high level of dye in tissues for a great period of time and participate to the knowledge of ICG behavior in vivo.