Imaging microplastics with multiphoton tomographs

Microplastic studies are crucial due to their impact on human health and the environment. However, the lack of a standardized method for microplastic identification and quantification hinders comprehensive analysis. Our research addresses these challenges by employing the advanced imaging technique Multimodal Multiphoton Tomography (MPT) including two-photon autofluorescence (AF), fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) with phasor analysis, second harmonics generation (SHG), and reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) with 50/80 MHz femtosecond laser pulses. The combined imaging approach allows also tracking of cosmetics with microplastics in-vivo in the human skin.