Isotonic tartrazine is sufficient to improve transscleral penetration of optical coherence tomography

Abstract

Tartrazine dye (FD&C Yellow No. 5) been demonstrated to reduce optical scattering and improve the penetration of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in ex vivo ocular tissues. However, previous reports have used high concentrations of tartrazine that are hyperosmolar to healthy ocular tissues including cornea. Higher concentrations of dye and hyperosmolarity may increase toxicity of tartrazine on the ocular surface, and may limit the potential for clinical translation of these techniques for use in human patients. In this work, we demonstrate that low concentrations of tartrazine dye, approximately isotonic to healthy cornea, are sufficient to produce a measurable improvement in the penetration depth of an OCT scan, while reducing the potential for ocular toxicity.