Nanoparticles as contrast-enhancing agents in optical coherence tomography imaging of the structural components of skin: Quantitative evaluation

This work examines the effect of gold nanoshells and titania nanoparticles on the imaging contrast of structural components of skin in optical coherence tomography (OCT). Experimental data are compared to Monte Carlo (MC) simulation results. In experiments with pig skin in vivo, the epidermis — dermis contrast is improved from 0.78 $\pm$ 0.03 to 0.92 $\pm$ 0.04 by gold nanoshells applied to the skin surface and from 0.78 $\pm$ 0.03 to 0.86 $\pm$ 0.04 by titania nanoparticles. The contrast of glands is enhanced by titania from 0.68 $\pm$ 0.12 to 0.84 $\pm$ 0.07. The highest contrast is reached 120 – 150 min after applying gold nanoshells and 160 – 200 min after applying titania. According to the MC simulation results, the contrast of inclusions increases from zero to 0.85 and 0.65, respectively.