Oral communication, CS2 / C8

Official XXIst International Pigment Cell Conference website - 21-24 Sept 2011, Bordeaux - France | updated: September 04 2011

Rare melanoma cell detection by thermal emission imaging

The outstanding ability of melanin, as a solid state structure, to convert absorbed light into heat, is the very basis of its photoprotective activity. One consequence is that melanin detection by light excitation can hardly be based on its very low florescence, but rather on absorption or reflexion contrast. We proposed here to use a well know phenomena as a source of imaging contrast: thermal radiation. We demonstrated quantitatively that melanosome can be heated non-destructively up to temperatures that are high enough to make melanosomes and pigmented cells detectable by appropriate imaging means, either in the visible or the near infrared range. The strong linearity of the thermal response ensures high signal to noise ratios, and permit the selective and sensitive detection of rare pigmented cells in tissues and blood samples. We will describe the basic physics of this novel mode of imaging, and show results obtained for the detection of circulating melanoma cells.

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