The biocompatibility of the dermal injection of glycerol in vivo to achieve optical clearing

摘要

Glycerol has been proved to be the best optical clearing agent on skin, but the ideal optical clearing effect can only be achieved by injecting glycerol underneath the skin. As a result of our former research, high concentrations of glycerol injection may lead unrecoverable injury on skin, while the injecting of 30% glycerol solution can achieve good clearing effect and be recovered for macro observation. In order to get further investigation of the biocompatibility on skin for 30% glycerol solution, skin samples were achieved 10 min, 30 min, 24 hour and 10 day after the injection of 30% glycerol solution. The samples were observed by optical microscopy with HE staining and electron microscopy separately. Also, the Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging (LSCI) technique was used to monitor the influence of glycerol on rat dermal vessels. The result shows the thickness of the dermal layer or the diameters of collagen fibers have no significant changes, and obvious injury like swell or fracture haven't been observed on fibers. From the dermal side, it can be clearly seen that arteriole and venule turned clearer. The blood flow in vessels appears to be slowing down or stopped in a short time, and recovered in 16 min. The results represent for dermal injection of optical clearing agents, 30% glycerol solution is an ideal agent.