UC Irvine

Functional optical characterization of disease progression and response to therapy suffers from loss of spatial resolution and imaging depth due to scattering, impacting the ability of researchers to localize and quantify molecular processes.Here we report on the ability of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to reduce temporarily the optical scattering of skin. Data collected from in vitro phantom images and in vivo fluorescence images demonstrate the potential of this simple method to mitigate the blurring effects of scattering with topical application, which we expect will improve the accuracy and localization of in vivo molecular imaging studies. © 2009 SPIE.