Time-resolved Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging (TR-LSCI) of Cerebral Blood Flow
To address many of the deficiencies in optical neuroimaging technologies, such as poor tempo-spatial resolution, low penetration depth, contact-based measurement, and time-consuming image reconstruction, a novel, noncontact, portable, time-resolved laser speckle contrast imaging (TR-LSCI) technique has been developed for continuous, fast, and high-resolution 2D mapping of cerebral blood flow (CBF) at different depths of the head. TR-LSCI illuminates the head with picosecond-pulsed, coherent, widefield near-infrared light and synchronizes a fast, high-resolution, gated single-photon avalanche diode camera to selectively collect diffuse photons with longer pathlengths through the head, thus improving the accuracy of CBF measurement in the deep brain. The reconstruction of a CBF map was dramatically expedited by incorporating convolution functions with parallel computations. The performance of TR-LSCI was evaluated using head-simulating phantoms with known properties and in-vivo rodents with varied hemodynamic challenges to the brain. TR-LSCI enabled mapping CBF variations at different depths with a sampling rate of up to 1 Hz and spatial resolutions ranging from tens/hundreds of micrometers on rodent head surfaces to 1-2 millimeters in deep brains. With additional improvements and validation in larger populations against established methods, we anticipate offering a noncontact, fast, high-resolution, portable, and affordable brain imager for fundamental neuroscience research in animals and for translational studies in humans.
2-s2.0-85207890823
39446549
Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering
Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering
Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering
Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering
Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering
Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering
Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering
Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering
University of Kentucky
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
2024
PP
REVIEWED
EPFL