“We found that an aqueous solution of a common food color approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, tartrazine, has the effect of reversibly making the skin, muscle, and connective tissues transparent in live rodents,” the study said.
The experiment, led by Zihao Ou, involved applying a mixture of water and tartrazine to live mice. Within minutes, researchers could see through the skin, muscle, and connective tissues. Ou, now an assistant professor at The University of Texas at Dallas, explained, “For those who understand the fundamental physics, it makes sense, but if you aren’t familiar with it, it looks like a magic trick.”
Tartrazine absorbs blue and ultraviolet light, allowing it to penetrate the skin and provide visibility to underlying structures. After testing on tissue samples and raw chicken, researchers rubbed the solution on mouse skulls and abdomens, successfully achieving transparency. However, once the dye is washed off, the transparency fades, and the dye is excreted through the mice’s urine.
“This “transparent abdomen” allows for direct visualization of fluorescent protein–labeled enteric neurons, capturing their movements that mirror the underlying gut motility in live mice,” the paper said.
Ou said that the significance of this finding, noting, “It’s important that the dye is biocompatible – it’s safe for living organisms. In addition, it’s very inexpensive and efficient; we don’t need very much of it to work.”
The researchers caution that while tartrazine can make mouse skin transparent, it’s unlikely to work on humans due to differences in skin thickness. “Human skin is about 10 times thicker than a mouse’s,” Ou said, adding that further research is required to understand its potential for human applications.
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