DEVELOPMENT OF DEUTERIUM LABELS FOR STIMULATED RAMAN MICROSCOPY

Stimulated Raman scattering, a nonlinear optical technique, has been shown be a very capable imaging modality in the biological sciences. It provides chemical selectivity and contrast through the probing of molecular bonds, and in this way has been used to identify lipids in cells, follow drugs through tissues, and follow the metablism of amino acids. The spectral overlap present in the Raman signature of many molecules has thus far limited the usefulness of this tool to a few classes of molecules. However, by substituting deuterium onto CH bonds it is now possible to image many more compounds precisely without the worry of toxicity or metabolic disruption inherent in introducing large fluorphores such as green fluorescent protein. Presented here, is recent work demonstrating the usefulness of technique. In particular, this work follows the uptake and segregation of highly deuterated cholesterol, localization of praziquantel in the worm body of schistozoma, and the breakdown of glucose in lipochondrocytes.