Solid optical tissue phantom tools based on upconverting nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Gokhan Dumlupinar; Sanathana Konugolu Venkata Sekar; Claudia Nunzia Guadagno; Jean S. Matias; Pranav Lanka; Chris K.W. Kho; Stefan Andersson-Engels

doi:10.1117/1.JBO.28.3.036004

11 March 2023 Solid optical tissue phantom tools based on upconverting nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Gokhan Dumlupinar, Sanathana Konugolu Venkata Sekar, Claudia Nunzia Guadagno, Jean S. Matias, Pranav Lanka, Chris K.W. Kho, Stefan Andersson-Engels

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Biomedical Optics, Vol. 28, Issue 3, 036004 (March 2023). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.28.3.036004

Abstract

Significance

Phantoms play a critical role in the development of biophotonics techniques. There is a lack of novel phantom tools in the emerging field of upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) for biophotonics application. This work provides a range of UCNP-based phantom tools and a manufacturing recipe to bridge the gap and accelerate the development of UCNP-based biophotonics applications.

Aim

The study aims to provide a well-characterized UCNP-based solid phantom recipe and set of phantom tools to address a wide range of UCNP-based biophotonics applications.

Approach

A solid phantom recipe based on silicone matrix was developed to manufacture UCNP-based phantoms. A lab built UCNP imaging system was used to characterize upconverted fluorescence emission of phantoms for linearity, homogeneity, and long-term stability. A photon time-of-flight spectroscopy technique was used to characterize the optical properties of the phantoms.

Results

In total, 24 phantoms classified into 4 types, namely homogeneous, multilayer, inclusion, and base phantoms, were manufactured. The phantoms exhibit linear behavior over the dosage range of UCNPs. The phantoms were found to be stable over a limited observed period of 4 months with a coefficient of variation of < 4 % . The deep tissue imaging case showed that increasing the thickness of tissue reduced the UCNP emission.

Conclusions

A first-of-its-kind UCNP-based solid phantom recipe was developed, and four types of UCNP phantom tools to explore biophotonics applications were presented. The UCNP phantoms exhibited a linear behavior with dosage and were stable over time. An example case showed the potential use of the phantom for deep tissue imaging applications. With recent advance in the use of UCNPs for biophotonics, we believe our recipe and tools will play a pivotal role in the growth of the UCNPs for biophotonics applications.

CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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Gokhan Dumlupinar, Sanathana Konugolu Venkata Sekar, Claudia Nunzia Guadagno, Jean S. Matias, Pranav Lanka, Chris K.W. Kho, and Stefan Andersson-Engels "Solid optical tissue phantom tools based on upconverting nanoparticles for biomedical applications," Journal of Biomedical Optics 28(3), 036004 (11 March 2023). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.28.3.036004

Received: 4 August 2022; Accepted: 16 November 2022; Published: 11 March 2023

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KEYWORDS

Biomedical optics

Tissues

Solids

Tissue optics

Nanoparticles

Optical properties

Scattering

Significance

Aim

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