"It's a major breakthrough," says Philipp Keller, a biologist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia. This technique could revolutionize non-invasive monitoring.
"When tartrazine is dissolved in water, it makes water bend light more like fats do," says Hong, indicating how the dye modifies properties of tissues to enhance transparency.
The technique works by changing how body tissues interact with light. Fluids, fats, and proteins have different refractive indices, which cause light scattering, leading to opacity.
The researchers speculated that adding a dye that strongly absorbs light could narrow the refractive index gap between tissue components, allowing for enhanced visibility into internal structures.
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