This shrimp is amazing! It can help oncologists see cancer cells clearly

Produced by: Science Popularization China

Produced by: Su Chengyu

Producer: Computer Network Information Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Here's a mantis shrimp:

Image source: Wikimedia

What we know most about the mantis shrimp is that it has a pair of fists that are as fast as lightning.

How fast is it? It's so fast that it's like a spring that is compressed and released. It only takes 1-2 milliseconds to complete a punch. At this speed, neural feedback is not enough to change the fist that has already been launched.

A mantis shrimp punches in slow motion. It only takes a few minutes to break the mantis shrimp's shell (Image source: isolophobia)

But our topic today is not about its fists, but its eyes that can save lives.

How can mantis shrimp eyes save people? It sounds a bit outrageous.

Don’t be in a hurry, let me introduce the mantis shrimp’s eyes first.

Image source: gycat

In addition to having the fastest fist on earth, the mantis shrimp also has the most complex visual system on earth. Like other insects, it uses compound eyes.

Its compound eyes have three layers of photoreceptors, each of which responds to a different wavelength of light. Mantis shrimps have a total of 16 different types of photoreceptors that can receive and process light of different wavelengths at the same time. Note that it is at the same time.

The eyes of mantis shrimp, dPR (dorsal peripheral region) is the dorsal peripheral region, vPR (ventral peripheral region) is the ventral peripheral region, the two are roughly symmetrical; MB (Mid-Band region) is the middle band region

(Image source: Reference 2)

Three of the photoreceptors are used to detect ultraviolet light, nine are used to detect visible light, and the rest are used to detect infrared light.

In comparison, humans only have photoreceptors for three colors: red, green, and blue, so the range of visible light for humans is much smaller than that of mantis shrimp.

These photoreceptor cells can process information independently and in parallel. The output of the photoreceptor cells does not pass through nerve comparison, and the color information is transmitted directly from the retina to the brain.

This means that the brain can see visible light as well as ultraviolet and infrared light.

During cancer tissue resection surgery, fluorescent proteins are sometimes needed to mark cancer cells to make cancer tissue resection more convenient. At this time, a medical camera will be used to shoot and display the image in real time on the surgical monitor to facilitate the doctor's operation.

Cancer tissue under visible light fluorescence labeling (Image source: Nature magazine)

Fluorescent protein labels can be used with visible light or near-infrared light, which are two different wavelengths of light. Different fluorescents can label different tissues. Some parts of organisms absorb and scatter visible light better, while other parts absorb and scatter non-visible light better, including near-infrared light.

The location of the cancer tissue is different, and the labeling method used is also different. But sometimes the situation is more complicated and two fluorescent labels are needed at the same time.

At this time, traditional camera equipment is no longer effective, because general camera equipment can only capture visible light or infrared light. The "photosensitive cells" of camera equipment, that is, its sensor, limit its light-sensitive range.

It should be noted that traditional photographic equipment is not without sensors that can process visible light and near-infrared light. As early as 2017, a photographic equipment manufacturer developed the world's first CMOS sensor that can capture visible light and near-infrared light.

A sensor that can capture visible and near-infrared light (Image credit: tokiox)

However, if you want to see both near-infrared light and visible light on the monitor at the same time, this sensor still cannot do that, because it can only switch between two modes, either seeing the visible light mode or the near-infrared light mode.

You can switch between the two modes to see the same object in visible light and near-infrared light (Image source: tokiox)

The emergence of our protagonist, the mantis shrimp, has inspired scientists and made it possible for surgeons to see both visible light and near-infrared light.

Research author (Image source: Reference 1)

Steven Blair, a graduate student in Viktor Gruev's lab, developed a sensor that has three layers of photosensitive material, similar to the mantis shrimp's. It can sense a total of six colors of light waves: red, green, blue, and three near-infrared lights.

Of course, the point is that this sensor has two filter materials placed on the top layer, just like the mantis shrimp, and can process six colors of light independently and in parallel at the same time.

In this way, surgeons can use a camera to observe cancer tissue marked with visible light and near-infrared light in the same picture, which makes it much more convenient.

Researchers test their bionic imager (marked in red) during a breast cancer tumor removal surgery.

(Image source: Courtesy: S. Blair et al Science Translational Medicine 2021)

Nature has provided endless inspiration for our technological advances, from high-speed rail locomotives that mimic hummingbirds, to sharkskin swimsuits for athletes, to sonar systems that mimic dolphins. Imaging systems that mimic the complex eyes of mantis shrimps are just one of the many examples.

Some people used to wonder what's the point of studying wild animals. It has nothing to do with us humans and it's a waste of money.

I think you should understand now that nature will always be our best teacher.

References:

1. Blair S, Garcia M, Davis T, et al. Hexachromatic bioinspired camera for image-guided cancer surgery[J]. Science Translational Medicine, 2021, 13(592).

2. Zhang Xu, Jin Weiqi, Qiu Su. A review of the characteristics of mantis shrimp visual imaging and its bionic technology[J]. Infrared Technology, 2016, 38(2): 89-95.

3. https://www.camgle.com/news/zixun/20170213/6666.html

4. http://tokiox.com/wp/%E3%82%AD%E3%83%A4%E3%83%8E%E3%83%B3%EF%BC%9Acmos%E3%82%BB%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B5%E3%83%BC%EF%BD%A 4global-shutter%E6%90%AD%E8%BC%89%EF%BC%9A%E5%8F%AF%E8%A6%96%E5%85%89%EF%BD%A5%E8%BF%91%E8%B5%A4%E5%A4%96/?lang=zh