Ultrasound-modulated optical microscopy for ex-vivo imaging of scattering biological tissue

Ultrasound-modulated optical microscopy (UOM) based on a long-cavity confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer (CFPI) [J.Biomed.Opt. 13(5), 0504046, (2008)] is used for real time detection of multiply scattered light modulated by high frequency (30 MHz) ultrasound pulses propagating in an optically strongly scattering medium. In this article, we use this microscope to study the dependence of ultrasound-modulated optical signals on the optical absorption of objects embedded about 3 mm deep in tissue mimicking phantoms. These results demonstrate that the dependence is nearly linear. Most importantly, we imaged blood vasculature and melanin in highly scattering tissue samples from a mouse and a rat. Thus UOM can be used to study the morphology of blood vasculature and blood-associated functional parameters, such as oxygen saturation.