Photoacoustic flow cytometry: principle and application for real-time detection of circulating single nanoparticles, pathogens, and contrast dyes in vivo

The goal of this work is to develop in vivo photoacoustic (PA) flow cytometry (PAFC) for time-resolved detection of circulating absorbing objects, either without labeling or with nanoparticles as PA labels. This study represents the first attempt, to our knowledge, to demonstrate the capability of PAFC with tunable near-infrared (NIR) pulse lasers for real-time monitoring of gold nanorods, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli labeled with carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and contrast dye Lymphazurin in the microvessels of mouse and rat ears and mesenteries. PAFC shows the unprecedented threshold sensitivity in vivo as one gold nanoparticle in the irradiated volume and as one bacterium in the background of $108$ of normal blood cells. The CNTs are demonstrated to serve as excellent new NIR high-PA contrast agents. Fast Lymphazurin diffusion in live tissue is observed with rapid blue coloring of a whole animal body. The enhancement of the thermal and acoustic effects is obtained with clustered, multilayer, and exploded nanoparticles.This novel combination of PA microscopy/spectroscopy and flow cytometry may be considered as a new powerful tool in biological research with the potential of quick translation to humans, providing ultrasensitive diagnostics of pathogens (e.g., bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, parasites, helminthes), metastatic, infected, inflamed, stem, and dendritic cells, and pharmacokinetics of drug, liposomes, and nanoparticles in deep vessels (with focused transducers) among other potential applications.