Preliminary investigations in vitro optical clearing of rat skin using island damage method for accelerated delivery of index-matching agents

摘要

Strong light scattering in skin prevents precise targeting of optical energy in therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Optical immersion based on matching retractive index of scattering centers with that of surrounding matter through introduction of an exogenous index-matching agent can alleviate the problem. However, slow diffusion of the index-matching agent through skin barrier makes practical implementation of this approach difficult. We propose a method of accelerating penetration of the index-matching compounds by enhancing skin permeability through creating a lattice of micro-zones (islets) of limited thermal damage in the stratum corneum. Two index-matching agents, glucose and glycerol, were tested. Glycerol used as index-matching agent gave noticeably better clearance then 40% glucose solution.