Abstract. We have constructed a prototype photoacoustic mammography system (PAM-02) capable of simultaneously acquiring photoacoustic (PA) and ultrasound (US) images. Each PA, US, and fused PA/US image can be acquired over a wide area of the breast using the scanning module of a US transducer, a PA detector, and optical prisms. The resolution of the PA images exhibits improvement from 2 to 1 mm compared to images acquired using our previous prototype. The maximum scan area of PAM-02 is 90 mm along the horizontal axis and 150 mm along the vertical axis. In a phantom experiment, the available depth was at least 45 mm. A representative example of the application of the PAM-02 prototype in clinical research at Kyoto University is presented and shows S-factor images, which are considered an approximation parameter related to hemoglobin saturation of tumor-related blood vessels. We confirmed the applicability of the system for anatomical and biological research. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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The multilamellar vesicles (MLVs) without ionophores were applied to the separation media of Cu2+ and Zn2+. Mn2+, Fe2+, Co2+ and Ni2+ were impermeable into the MLVs. The uptake rate and efficiency of Cu2+ were dependent on the charge-type of the MLVs surface, while the effect of copper salts on the uptake rate and efficiency was little observed.

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Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was encapsulated in liposomes prepared by an extrusion technique. The liposomes were coupled covalently to anti-rabbit IgG using N-hydroxysuccinimide ester palmitic acid as a component of liposomes. The number of encapsulated HRP molecules per liposome was about 800. A large portion of HRP was encapsulated inside the liposomes for about one week at 4˚C. The catalytic activity of HRP was measured by a luminol chemiluminescence (CL) method and was found to be almost constant during storage. The CL intensity per antibody in the detection of HRP encapsulated in the antibody-coupled liposomes was 125-times greater than that of HRP conjugated directly to the antibody.