|
Ability to non-invasively monitor and quantify of blood flow, blood vessel morphology, oxygenation and tissue morphology is important for improved diagnosis, treatment and management of various neurovascular disorders, e.g., stroke. Currently, no imaging technique is available that can satisfactorily extract these parameters from in vivo microcirculatory tissue beds, with large field of view and sufficient resolution at defined depth without any harm to the tissue. In order for more effective therapeutics, we need to determine the area of brain that is damaged but not yet dead after focal ischemia. Here we develop an integrated multi-functional imaging system, in which SDW-LSCI (synchronized dual wavelength laser speckle imaging) is used as a guiding tool for OMAG (optical microangiography) to investigate the fine detail of tissue hemodynamics, such as vessel flow, profile, and flow direction. We determine the utility of the integrated system for serial monitoring afore mentioned parameters in experimental stroke, middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in mice. For 90 min MCAO, onsite and 24 hours following reperfusion, we use SDW-LSCI to determine distinct flow and oxygenation variations for differentiation of the infarction, peri-infarct, reduced flow and contralateral regions. The blood volumes are quantifiable and distinct in afore mentioned regions. We also demonstrate the behaviors of flow and flow direction in the arterials connected to MCA play important role in the time course of MCAO. These achievements may improve our understanding of vascular involvement under pathologic and physiological conditions, and ultimately facilitate clinical diagnosis, monitoring and therapeutic interventions of neurovascular diseases, such as ischemic stroke.
|
