A revolutionary new technique uses food dye to provide a ‘window’ into the body by making skin transparent.
Researchers made the skin on the skulls and abdomens of live mice see-through by applying a mixture of water and a common yellow food colouring called Tartrazine, commonly found in cornflakes, sweets, energy drinks and chicken stock as well as crisps.
The ground-breaking technique, described in the journal Science, gives medics a new way to see organs within a body by rendering overlying tissues transparent to visible light.
It is yet to be tested on humans as food dyes as food dyes can be harmful.
But the process was reversible in tests with animals, and scientists say it may ultimately apply to several medical uses – from locating injuries to monitoring digestive disorders and identifying cancers.
Dr Guosong Hong, of Stanford University in the United States who helped lead the work, said: ‘Looking forward, this technology could make veins more visible for the drawing of blood, make laser-based tattoo removal more straightforward, or assist in the early detection and treatment of cancers.
Tartrazine is commonly found in energy drinks (File image)
It is also found in cornflakes (File image)
Dr Guosong Hong (pictured) said: ‘Looking forward, this technology could make veins more visible for the drawing of blood, make laser-based tattoo removal more straightforward, or assist in the early detection and treatment of cancers’
‘For example, certain therapies use lasers to eliminate cancerous and precancerous cells, but are limited to areas near the skin’s surface. This technique may be able to improve that light penetration.’
To master the new technique, the researchers developed a way to predict how light interacts with dyed biological tissues.
The predictions required a deep understanding of light scattering, as well as the process of refraction, where light changes speed and bends as it travels from one material into another.
The research team explained that scattering is the reason we cannot see through our body. Fats, fluids within cells, proteins, and other materials each have a different refractive index, a property that dictates how significantly an incoming light wave will bend.
In most tissues, those materials are closely compacted together, so the varied refractive indices cause light to scatter as it passes through.
It is the scattering effect that our eyes interpret as opaque, coloured, biological materials.
The researchers realised if they wanted to make biological material transparent, they had to find a way to match the different refractive indices so light could travel through unimpeded.
The chemical is often found in fizzy drinks
Building on fundamental insights from the field of optics, the researchers realised dyes that are the most effective at absorbing light can also be ‘highly effective’ at directing light uniformly through a wide range of refractive indices.
One dye the researchers predicted would be particularly effective was tartrazine, the food dye more commonly known as FD & C Yellow 5.
When dissolved into water and absorbed into tissues, tartrazine molecules turned out to be perfectly structured to match refractive indices and prevent light from scattering, resulting in transparency.
The research team first tested the technique on thin slices of chicken breast.
As tartrazine concentrations increased, the refractive index of the fluid within the muscle cells rose until it matched the refractive index of the muscle proteins – the slice became transparent.
The researchers then gently rubbed a temporary tartrazine solution on mice.
First, they applied the solution to the scalp, rendering the skin transparent to reveal blood vessels criss-crossing the brain.
Then they applied the solution to the abdomen, which faded within minutes to show contractions of the intestine and movements caused by heartbeats and breathing.
When the dye was rinsed off, the tissues quickly returned to normal.
One dye the researchers predicted would be particularly effective was tartrazine, the food dye more commonly known as FD & C Yellow 5 (File image)
File image of a little boy drinking an orange soda at a beach bar in late afternoon light
The tartrazine did not appear to have long-term effects, and any excess was excreted in waste within 48 hours.
The researchers suspect that injecting the dye should lead to even deeper views within organisms, with implications for both biology and medicine.
Study lead author Dr Zihao Ou, Assistant Professor of physics at The University of Texas, Dallas, said: ‘We combined the yellow dye, which is a molecule that absorbs most light, especially blue and ultraviolet light, with skin, which is a scattering medium.
‘Individually, these two things block most light from getting through them.
‘But when we put them together, we were able to achieve transparency of the mouse skin.’
Dr Ou, who conducted the study while a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University, added: ‘For those who understand the fundamental physics behind this, it makes sense; but if you aren’t familiar with it, it looks like a magic trick.
‘It takes a few minutes for the transparency to appear.
‘It’s similar to the way a facial cream or mask works: the time needed depends on how fast the molecules diffuse into the skin.
‘It’s important that the dye is biocompatible – it’s safe for living organisms.
‘In addition, it’s very inexpensive and efficient; we don’t need very much of it to work.’
The researchers have not yet tested the process on humans, whose skin is about 10 times thicker than a mouse’s.
Dr Ou says it’s not yet clear what dosage of the dye or delivery method would be necessary to penetrate the entire thickness.
He said: ‘In human medicine, we currently have ultrasound to look deeper inside the living body.
‘Many medical diagnosis platforms are very expensive and inaccessible to a broad audience, but platforms based on our tech should not be..
‘Our research group is mostly academics, so one of the first things we thought of when we saw the results of our experiments was how this might improve biomedical research.
‘Optical equipment, like the microscope, is not directly used to study live humans or animals because light can’t go through living tissue.
‘But now that we can make tissue transparent, it will allow us to look at more detailed dynamics. It will completely revolutionise existing optical research in biology.’