Alexey N. Bashkatov

Ex vivo optical measurements of glucose diffusion kinetics in native and diabetic mouse skin

The aim of this study was to estimate the glucose diffusion coefficients ex vivo in skin of mice with diabetes induced in vivo by alloxan in comparison to non-diabetic mice. The temporal dependences of collimated transmittance of tissue samples immersed in glucose solutions were measured in the VIS-NIR spectral range to quantify the glucose diffusion/permeability coefficients and optical clearing efficiency of mouse skin. The average thickness of intact healthy and diabetic skin was 0.023xa0±xa00.006xa0cm and 0.019xa0±xa00.005xa0cm, respectively. Considerable differences in optical and kinetic properties of diabetic and non-diabetic skin were found: clearing efficiency was 1.5-fold better and glucose diffusivity was 2-fold slower for diabetic skin. Experimental Setup for measuring collimated transmittance spectra of mouse skin samples.

Optical clearing of skin tissue ex vivo with polyethylene glycol

Alterations of the optical and structural (weight, thickness, and square) parameters of skin caused by polyethylene glycol (PEG) with molecular weights of 300 and 400 Da were studied experimentally. The objects of the study were ex vivo skin samples of albino laboratory rats. Collimated transmittance of the skin was measured in the wavelength range 500-900 nm. As a result of exposure to the agents, an increase in the collimated transmittance and a decrease in weight, thickness, and square of skin samples were observed. Analysis of the kinetics of parameters alterations allowed us to measure the diffusion coefficient of the agents in the skin as (1.83 ± 2.22) × 10-6 and (1.70 ± 1.47) × 10-6 cm2/s for PEG-300 and PEG-400, respectively, and the rate of alterations of the structural parameters. The results obtained in this study can be used for the improvement of existing and development of new methods of noninvasive diagnostics and therapy of subcutaneous diseases.

Adjunctive dental therapy via tooth plaque reduction and gingivitis treatment by blue light-emitting diodes tooth brushing

Abstract. The efficacy of blue light-emitting toothbrushes (B-LETBs) (405 to 420 nm, power density 2u2009u2009mW/cm2) for reduction of dental plaques and gingival inflammation has been evaluated. Microbiological study has shown the multifactor therapeutic action of the B-LETBs on oral pathological microflora: in addition to partial mechanical removal of bacteria, photodynamic action suppresses them up to 97.5%. In the pilot clinical studies, subjects with mild to moderate gingivitis have been randomly divided into two groups: a treatment group that used the B-LETBs and a control group that used standard toothbrushes. Indices of plaque, gingival bleeding, and inflammation have been evaluated. A significant improvement of all dental indices in comparison with the baseline (by 59%, 66%, and 82% for plaque, gingival bleeding, and inflammation, respectively) has been found. The treatment group has demonstrated up to 50% improvement relative to the control group. We have proposed the B-LETBs to serve for prevention of gingivitis or as an alternative to conventional antibiotic treatment of this disease due to their effectiveness and the absence of drug side effects and bacterial resistance.

Optical properties of hair shafts estimated using the digital video microscopic system and inverse Monte Carlo method

A color-camera-based technique was used for evaluation of reflectance and transmittance of the human hair shafts. The inverse Monte Carlo method was used for estimation of hair optical properties - absorption and reduced scattering coefficients. Hair samples have been obtained from ten volunteers. We have investigated blond, brown, black, light- brown and gray hairs. Obtained differences in absorption and scattering properties correlate with structure- morphological features of hair types. Offered method allows one to provide express-analysis of optical properties of a hair shaft, to determined separately absorption and scattering coefficients and melanin content.

Study of glycerol diffusion in skin and myocardium ex vivo under the conditions of developing alloxan-induced diabetes

Diabetes mellitus is one of widespread diseases, the development of which impairs the functioning of organism vital organs. The study of the processes that occur in tissues under diabetic conditions facilitates the development of diabetes diagnostics and treatment methods, as well as the prognosis of its complications. The paper reports a comparative study of glycerol diffusion in skin and myocardium of rats ex vivo in the normal condition and the conditions of alloxan-induced diabetes. The glycerol diffusion coefficients in tissues were determined basing on the analysis of kinetics of collimated light transmittance through tissue samples immersed in 70%-glycerol solution. As a result, it was shown that the glycerol diffusion rate in the tissues of rats with alloxan-induced diabetes is essentially decreased as compared to the control group.

The assesment of effectiveness of plasmonic resonance photothermal therapy in tumor-bearing rats after multiple intravenous administration of gold nanorods

To assess the effectiveness of plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPT) multiple intravenous strategy of gold nanorods (GNRs) administration was used before laser exposure. The model of alveolar liver cancer PC-1 was used in male outbred albino rats, which were intravenously administrated by single and multiple injections of GNRs and then were treated by PPT. The gold dosage was 400 μg (single injection group), 800 μg (double injection group), 1200 μg (triple injection group), and absorption maximum of gold nanorods suspension was at the wavelength of 808 nm. 24 hours after last injection the tumors were irradiated by the 808-nm diode laser during 15 min at power density 2.3 W/cm2. Temperature control of the tumor heating was provided by IR imager. 24 hours after the PPT the half of animals from each group was withdrawn from the experiments and the sampling tumor tissue for morphological study was performed. In survived animals the growth of tumors was evaluated during 21 days after the PPT. The antitumor effects of PPT after triple intravenous injection were comparable with those obtained at direct intratumoral administration of similar total dose of GNRs. The effectiveness of PPT depended on gold accumulation in tumor, probably, due to sufficient vascularization of tumor tissue.

Fractional laser microablation of skin: increasing the efficiency of transcutaneous delivery of particles

We study several regimes of fractional laser microablation using a pulsed Er : YAG laser for producing microchannels of different depth and incisions that allow transcutaneous delivery of particles of different size, namely, Al2O3 (27 μm), ZrO2 (smaller than 5 μm) and TiO2 (smaller than 100 nm). The shock wave regime was used both for enhancing the penetration of particles into the ablation zones and as an independent method of particle delivery into the skin. Based on optical coherence tomography we assessed the coherent depth of particle detection in the skin in 2 hours, 3 days and 10 days after the administration. The maximal localisation depth (up to 450 μm) was obtained for TiO2 nanoparticles in the regime of incisions with enhancement of particle penetration by pulses of a multiple-beam hydrodynamic shock wave. The results of the study can be useful for developing new methods of transcutaneous delivery of micro- and nanocarriers of medicinal preparations.

OCT Study of Optical Clearing of Muscle Tissue in vitro with 40% Glucose Solution

The technique of -optical clearing of biological tissues- is aimed at improving the quality of visualization of structures hidden deep in tissue. In this study, we measured the diffusion coefficient of glucose in bovine skeletal muscle tissue by optical coherence tomography (OCT) in vitro and determined changes that took place in the imaging contrast of muscle fibers, the optical depth of coherent probing, and detection under the influence of aqueous 40% solution of glucose. It was shown that, within 90 min, when the depth of coherent probing increased by 14%, the contrast of OCT images increased fourfold and the depth of coherent detection of structural elements of the tissue increased by 2.4 times. The diffusion coefficient of glucose in the muscle tissue was (2.98 ± 0.94) × 10-6 cm2/s.

Measurement of diffusion coefficient of propylene glycol in skin tissue

Optical clearing of the rat skin under the action of propylene glycol was studied ex vivo. It was found that collimated transmittance of skin samples increased, whereas weight and thickness of the samples decreased during propylene glycol penetration in skin tissue. A mechanism of the optical clearing under the action of propylene glycol is discussed. Diffusion coefficient of propylene glycol in skin tissue ex vivo has been estimated as (1.35±0.95)×10-7 cm2/s with the taking into account of kinetics of both weight and thickness of skin samples. The presented results can be useful for enhancement of many methods of laser therapy and optical diagnostics of skin diseases and localization of subcutaneous neoplasms.

Model of optical phantoms thermal response upon irradiation with 975 nm dermatological laser

We have developed a numerical model describing the optical and thermal behavior of optical tissue phantoms upon laser irradiation. According to our previous studies, the phantoms can be used as substitute of real skin from the optical, as well as thermal point of view. However, the thermal parameters are not entirely similar to those of real tissues thus there is a need to develop mathematical model, describing the thermal and optical response of such materials. This will facilitate the correction factors, which would be invaluable in translation between measurements on skin phantom to real tissues, and gave a good representation of a real case application. Here, we present the model dependent on the data of our optical phantoms fabricated and measured in our previous preliminary study. The ambiguity between the modeling and the thermal measurements depend on lack of accurate knowledge of materials thermal properties and some exact parameters of the laser beam. Those parameters were varied in the simulation, to provide an overview of possible parameters ranges and the magnitude of thermal response.