Coherent anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) Microscopy Visualizes Pharmaceutical Tablets During Dissolution

Traditional pharmaceutical dissolution tests determine the amount of drug dissolved over time by measuring drug content in the dissolution medium. This ...

University of Twente

Single emitter blinking with a power-law distribution for the on and off times has been observed on a variety of systems including semiconductor nanocrystals, conjugated polymers, fluorescent proteins, and organic fluorophores. The origin of this behavior is still under debate. Reliable estimation of power exponents from experimental data is crucial in validating the various models under consideration. We derive a maximum likelihood estimator for power-law distributed data and analyze its accuracy as a function of data set size and power exponent both analytically and numerically. Results are compared to least-squares fitting of the double logarithmically transformed probability density. We demonstrate that least-squares fitting introduces a severe bias in the estimation result and that the maximum likelihood procedure is superior in retrieving the correct exponent and reducing the statistical error. For a data set as small as 50 data points, the error margins of the maximum likelihood estimator are already below 7%, giving the possibility to quantify blinking behavior when data set size is limited, e.g., due to photobleaching.

Accurate and unbiased estimation of power-law exponents from single-emitter blinking data.

Dissolution testing is a crucial part of pharmaceutical dosage form investigations and is generally performed by analyzing the concentration of the released drug in a defined volume of flowing dissolution medium. As solid-state properties of the components affect dissolution behavior to a large and sometimes even unpredictable extent there is a strong need for monitoring and especially visualizing solid-state properties during dissolution testing. In this study coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy was used to visualize the solid-state properties of lipid-based oral dosage forms containing the model drug theophylline anhydrate during dissolution in real time. The drug release from the dosage form matrix was monitored with a spatial resolution of about 1.5 microm. In addition, as theophylline anhydrate tends to form the less soluble monohydrate during dissolution, CARS microscopy allowed the solid-state transformation of the drug to be spatially visualized. The results obtained by CARS microscopy revealed that the method used to combine lipid and active ingredient into a sustained release dosage form can influence the physicochemical behavior of the drug during dissolution. In this case, formation of theophylline monohydrate on the surface was visualized during dissolution with tablets compressed from powdered mixtures but not with solid lipid extrudates.

Chemical imaging of oral solid dosage forms and changes upon dissolution using coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy.

We theoretically investigate a scheme to obtain sub-diffraction-limited resolution in coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy. We find using density matrix calculations that the rise of vibrational (Raman) coherence can be strongly suppressed, and thereby the emission of CARS signals can be significantly reduced, when pre-populating the corresponding vibrational state through an incoherent process. The effectiveness of pre-populating the vibrational state of interest is investigated by considering the excitation of a neighbouring vibrational (control) state through an intense, mid-infrared control laser. We observe that, similar to the processes employed in stimulated emission depletion microscopy, the CARS signal exhibits saturation behaviour if the transition rate between the vibrational and the control state is large. Our approach opens up the possibility of achieving chemically selectivity sub-diffraction-limited spatially resolved imaging.

A route to sub-diffraction-limited CARS Microscopy.

Pulse shaping techniques are used to improve the selectivity of broadband CARS experiments, and to reject the overwhelming background. Knowledge about the fitness landscape and the capability of tailoring it is crucial for both fundamental insight and performing an efficient optimization of phase shapes. We use an evolutionary algorithm to find the optimal spectral phase of the broadband pump and probe beams in a background-suppressed shaped CARS process. We then investigate the shapes, symmetries, and topologies of the landscape contour lines around the optimal solution and also around the point corresponding to zero phase. We demonstrate the significance of the employed phase bases in achieving convex contour lines, suppressed local optima, and high optimization fitness with a few (and even a single) optimization parameter.

Exploring, tailoring, and traversing the solution landscape of a phase-shaped CARS process.

In coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS), the emitted signal carries both amplitude and phase information of the molecules in the focal volume. Most CARS experiments ignore the phase component, but its detection allows for two advantages over intensity-only CARS. First, the pure resonant response can be determined, and the nonresonant background rejected, by extracting the imaginary component of the complex response, enhancing the sensitivity of CARS measurements. Second, selectivity is increased via determination of the phase and amplitude, allowing separation of individual molecular components of a sample even when their vibrational bands overlap. Here, using vibrational phase contrast CARS (VPC-CARS), we demonstrate enhanced sensitivity in quantitative measurements of ethanol/methanol mixtures and increased selectivity in a heterogeneous mixture of plastics and water. This powerful technique opens a wide range of possibilities for studies of complicated systems where overlapping resonances limit standard methodologies.

Visualizing resonances in the complex plane with vibrational phase contrast coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering.

Non-linear optics encompasses a range of optical phenomena, including two- and three-photon fluorescence, second harmonic generation (SHG), sum frequency generation (SFG), difference frequency generation (DFG), third harmonic generation (THG), coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS), and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS). The combined advantages of using these phenomena for imaging complex pharmaceutical systems include chemical and structural specificities, high optical spatial and temporal resolutions, no requirement for labels, and the ability to image in an aqueous environment. These features make such imaging well suited for a wide range of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical investigations, including material and dosage form characterisation, dosage form digestion and drug release, and drug and nanoparticle distribution in tissues and within live cells. In this review, non-linear optical phenomena used in imaging will be introduced, together with their advantages and disadvantages in the pharmaceutical context. Research on pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical applications is discussed, and potential future applications of the technology are considered.

Pharmaceutical applications of non-linear imaging.

Detection of molecules using vibrational resonances in the fingerprint region for narrowband coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) is challenging. The spectrum is highly congested resulting in a large background and a reduced specificity. Recently we introduced vibrational phase contrast CARS (VPC-CARS) microscopy as a technique capable of detecting both the amplitude and phase of the CARS signal, providing background-free images and high specificity. In this paper we present a new implementation of VPC-CARS based on a third-order cascaded phase-preserving chain, where the CARS signal is generated at a single (constant) wavelength independent of the vibrational frequency that is addressed. This implementation will simplify the detection side considerably.

Implementation of vibrational phase contrast coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy.

We demonstrate a method for performing nonlinear microspectroscopy that provides an intuitive and unified description of the various signal contributions, and allows the direct extraction of the vibrational response. Three optical fields create a pair of Stokes Raman pathways that interfere in the same vibrational state. Frequency modulating one of the fields leads to amplitude modulations on all of the fields. This vibrational molecular interferometry technique allows imaging at high speed free of nonresonant background, and is able to distinguish between electronic and vibrational contributions to the total signal.

Background-free nonlinear microspectroscopy with vibrational molecular interferometry.

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy is applied for the first time for the evaluation of the protein secondary structure of polyglutamine (polyQ) aggregates in vivo. Our approach demonstrates the potential for translating information about protein structure that has been obtained in vitro by X-ray diffraction into a microscopy technique that allows the same protein structure to be detected in vivo. For these studies, fibres of polyQ containing peptides (D(2)Q(15)K(2)) were assembled in vitro and examined by electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction methods; the fibril structure was shown to be cross β-sheet. The same polyQ fibres were evaluated by Raman spectroscopy and this further confirmed the β-sheet structure, but indicated that the structure is highly rigid, as indicated by the strong Amide I signal at 1659 cm(-1). CARS spectra were simulated using the Raman spectrum taking into account potential non-resonant contributions, providing evidence that the Amide I signal remains strong, but slightly shifted to lower wavenumbers. Combined CARS (1657 cm(-1)) and multi-photon fluorescence microscopy of chimeric fusions of yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) with polyQ (Q40) expressed in the body wall muscle cells of Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes (1 day old adult hermaphrodites) revealed diffuse and foci patterns of Q40-YFP that were both fluorescent and exhibited stronger CARS (1657 cm(-1)) signals than in surrounding tissues at the resonance for the cross β-sheet polyQ in vitro.

Polyglutamine aggregate structure in vitro and in vivo; new avenues for coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy.

Nature has developed many pathways to produce medicinal products of extraordinary potency and specificity with significantly higher efficiencies than current synthetic methods can achieve. Identification of these mechanisms and their precise locations within plants could substantially increase the yield of a number of natural pharmaceutics. We report label-free imaging of Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCa) in Cannabis sativa L. using coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy. In line with previous observations we find high concentrations of THCa in pistillate flowering bodies and relatively low amounts within flowering bracts. Surprisingly, we find differences in the local morphologies of the THCa-containing bodies: organelles within bracts are large, diffuse, and spheroidal, whereas in pistillate flowers they are generally compact, dense, and have heterogeneous structures. We have also identified two distinct vibrational signatures associated with THCa, both in pure crystalline form and within Cannabis plants; at present the exact natures of these spectra remain an open question.

Herman L. Offerhaus

Optical Sciences Group,
MESA+ Institute,
Optical Sciences Group, MESA+ Institute

University of Twente

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) Microscopy Visualizes Pharmaceutical Tablets During Dissolution

Herman L. Offerhaus

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University of Twente

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) Microscopy Visualizes Pharmaceutical Tablets During Dissolution

Optical Sciences Group,
MESA+ Institute,
Optical Sciences Group, MESA+ Institute