Organometallic carbonyl clusters: a new class of contrast agents for photoacoustic cerebral vascular imaging.

We report, for the first time, the use of a water-soluble organometallic compound as a stable, reliable and high-contrast photoacoustic contrast agent. This gives a significantly higher contrast than that achievable with alternatives such as single-walled carbon nanotubes. Image enhancement of the rat cerebral cortex vasculature was observed using in vivo dark-field photoacoustic microscopy.