A Common Yellow Food Dye Can Temporarily Make Skin and Muscles Transparent

Before and after applying the tartrazine dye on a rodent’s abdomen / Credit: Ou Z. et al., Science 2024.

Researchers have found that tartrazine, a man-made yellow dye used in soft drinks, candy and gum (referred to as E102 in Europe and Yellow 5 in the United States) can result in a remarkable outcome: it renders skin and muscle tissue transparent temporarily.

In living mice laboratory experiments, researchers applied the dye's water-based solution directly to the scalp and abdomen of the mice. Once it was applied, they could clearly observe internal organs, for instance blood vessels and brain activity while using light-based technologies. After washing the dye off, the tissue returned to its natural state without any damage, and the compound exited the mice within 48 hours.

The study is published in Science and explains the process in which tartrazine negatively affects the refractive index of bioluminescent tissue causing it to assume clarity and subsequently open up new forms of medical imaging, inform the surgeons while performing laser-based treatments, and perhaps provide early detection indicators of cancer. Yes, it makes it one step closer to the idea of short, safe invisibility, as a researcher stated. It may seem like its science fiction but it's simply food science made futuristic.

References:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adm6869

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adr7935