Enhancement of light in tissue using hyper-osmotic agents

Optical changes in skin blood flow due to the presence of glycerol were measured from a two-dimensional map of blood flow in skin blood vessels with a dynamic imaging technique using laser speckle. In this study a dorsal skin-flap window was implanted on the hamster skin with and without a hyper-osmotic agent i.e. glycerol. The hyper-osmotic drug was delivered to the skin through the open dermal end of the window model. A two-dimensional map of blood flow in skin blood vessels were obtained with very high spatial and temporal resolution by imaging the speckle pattern with a CCD camera. Preliminary studies demonstrated that hyper-osmotic agents such as glycerol not only make tissue temporarily translucent, but also reduce blood flow. The blood perfusion was measured every 3 minutes up to 36-60 minutes after diffusion of anhydrous glycerol. Small capillaries blood flow reduced significantly within 3-9 minutes. Perfusion rate in lager blood vessels i.e. all arteries and some veins decreased (speckle contrasts increased from 0.0115 to 0.384) over time. However, the blood flow in some veins reduced significantly in 36 minutes. After 24 hours the blood perfusion further reduced in capillaries. However, the blood flow increased in larger blood vessels in 24 hours compared to an hour after application of glycerol. For further investigation the speckle contrast measurement were verified with color Doppler optical coherence tomography.