Although laser scanning microscopy is a pivotal imaging tool in biomedical research, optical scattering from tissue limits the depth of the imaging. To overcome this limitation, we propose a scheme called ultrasound-induced optical clearing microscopy, which makes use of temporary, localized optical clearing based on ultrasound-induced gas bubbles. In this method, bubbles are generated by high-intensity pulsed ultrasound at a desired depth and subsequently maintained by low-intensity continuous ultrasound during imaging. As a result, optical scattering and unwanted changes in the propagation direction of the incident photons are minimized in the bubble cloud, and thus the laser can be tightly focused at a deeper imaging plane. Through phantom and ex vivo experiments, we demonstrate that ultrasound-induced optical clearing microscopy is capable of increasing the imaging depth by a factor of six or more, while the resolution is similar to that of conventional laser scanning microscopy.

尽管激光扫描显微镜是生物医学研究中的关键成像工具，但来自组织的光散射限制了成像的深度。为了克服这一限制，我们提出了一种称为超声诱导光学清除显微镜的方案，该方案利用基于超声诱导气泡的临时、局部光学清除。在这种方法中，气泡由高强度脉冲超声在所需深度产生，随后在成像过程中由低强度连续超声保持。结果，光散射和入射光子传播方向的不必要变化在气泡云中被最小化，因此激光可以紧密地聚焦在更深的成像平面上。通过幻像和离体实验，