Noninvasive laser-induced photoacoustic tomography for structural and functional in vivo imaging of the brain

Imaging techniques based on optical contrast analysis can be used to visualize dynamic and functional properties of the nervous system via optical signals resulting from changes in blood volume, oxygen consumption and cellular swelling associated with brain physiology and pathology. Here we report in vivo noninvasive transdermal and transcranial imaging of the structure and function of rat brains by means of laser-induced photoacoustic tomography (PAT). The advantage of PAT over pure optical imaging is that it retains intrinsic optical contrast characteristics while taking advantage of the diffraction-limited high spatial resolution of ultrasound. We accurately mapped rat brain structures, with and without lesions, and functional cerebral hemodynamic changes in cortical blood vessels around the whisker-barrel cortex in response to whisker stimulation. We also imaged hyperoxia- and hypoxia-induced cerebral hemodynamic changes. This neuroimaging modality holds promise for applications in neurophysiology, neuropathology and neurotherapy.

[1]  G. Millikan.  The Oximeter, an Instrument for Measuring Continuously the Oxygen Saturation of Arterial Blood in Man , 1942 .

[2]  S. Kety,et al.  THE EFFECTS OF ALTERED ARTERIAL TENSIONS OF CARBON DIOXIDE AND OXYGEN ON CEREBRAL BLOOD FLOW AND CEREBRAL OXYGEN CONSUMPTION OF NORMAL YOUNG MEN. , 1948, The Journal of clinical investigation.

[3]  T. Woolsey,et al.  Somatosensory Cortex: Structural Alterations following Early Injury to Sense Organs , 1973, Science.

[4]  F. Jöbsis.  Noninvasive, infrared monitoring of cerebral and myocardial oxygen sufficiency and circulatory parameters. , 1977, Science.

[5]  B Chance,et al.  Intracellular oxidation-reduction state measured in situ by a multichannel fiber-optic surface fluorometer. , 1982, Science.

[6]  T. Wiesel,et al.  Functional architecture of cortex revealed by optical imaging of intrinsic signals , 1986, Nature.

[7]  Josef Pelzl,et al.  Photoacoustic and Photothermal Phenomena , 1988 .

[8]  R. Frostig,et al.  Optical imaging of neuronal activity. , 1988, Physiological reviews.

[9]  D. Ts'o,et al.  Cortical functional architecture and local coupling between neuronal activity and the microcirculation revealed by in vivo high-resolution optical imaging of intrinsic signals. , 1990, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[10]  B. MacVicar,et al.  Imaging of synaptically evoked intrinsic optical signals in hippocampal slices , 1991, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[11]  D. Bićanić.  Photoacoustic and Photothermal Phenomena III , 1992 .

[12]  G. J. Diebold,et al.  Generation of ultrasonic waves from a layered photoacoustic source , 1992, Nature.

[13]  Gerald J. Diebold,et al.  Photoacoustic Waveforms Generated by Fluid Bodies , 1992 .

[14]  G. Ojemann,et al.  Optical imaging of epileptiform and functional activity in human cerebral cortex , 1992, Nature.

[15]  Ravi S. Menon,et al.  Intrinsic signal changes accompanying sensory stimulation: functional brain mapping with magnetic resonance imaging. , 1992, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[16]  K Pettigrew,et al.  Hypoxia Increases Velocity of Blood Flow through Parenchymal Microvascular Systems in Rat Brain , 1993, Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism.

[17]  T. Ebner,et al.  Use of voltage-sensitive dyes and optical recordings in the central nervous system , 1995, Progress in Neurobiology.

[18]  Joshua L. Dowling,et al.  Rapid optical imaging of whisker responses in the rat barrel cortex , 1996, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[19]  A. Villringer,et al.  Non-invasive optical spectroscopy and imaging of human brain function , 1997, Trends in Neurosciences.

[20]  K. Nagata.  [Brain energy metabolism]. , 1997, Nihon rinsho. Japanese journal of clinical medicine.

[21]  G. Gratton,et al.  Dynamic brain imaging: Event-related optical signal (EROS) measures of the time course and localization of cognitive-related activity , 1998 .

[22]  E. Stein,et al.  Blood flow increases linearly in rat somatosensory cortex with increased whisker movement frequency , 1998, Brain Research.

[23]  F. D. de Mul,et al.  Three-dimensional photoacoustic imaging of blood vessels in tissue. , 1998, Optics letters.

[24]  G. Crelier,et al.  Investigation of BOLD signal dependence on cerebral blood flow and oxygen consumption: The deoxyhemoglobin dilution model , 1999, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[25]  Ying Zheng,et al.  Spectroscopic Analysis of Changes in Remitted Illumination: The Response to Increased Neural Activity in Brain , 1999, NeuroImage.

[26]  Martin Frenz,et al.  Optical method for two-dimensional ultrasonic detection , 1999 .

[27]  R A Kruger,et al.  Thermoacoustic computed tomography--technical considerations. , 1999, Medical physics.

[28]  R. Esenaliev,et al.  Sensitivity of laser opto-acoustic imaging in detection of small deeply embedded tumors , 1999 .

[29]  C Sato,et al.  Analysis of Optical Signals Evoked by Peripheral Nerve Stimulation in Rat Somatosensory Cortex: Dynamic Changes in Hemoglobin Concentration and Oxygenation , 1999, Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism.

[30]  Atsushi Nambu,et al.  B-mode and color Doppler ultrasound imaging for localization of microelectrode in monkey brain , 2000, Neuroscience Research.

[31]  Alexander A. Oraevsky,et al.  Backward mode detection of laser-induced wide-band ultrasonic transients with optoacoustic transducer , 2000 .

[32]  Seong-Gi Kim,et al.  Effect of hyperoxia, hypercapnia, and hypoxia on cerebral interstitial oxygen tension and cerebral blood flow , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[33]  H. Weber,et al.  Optoacoustic imaging using a three-dimensional reconstruction algorithm , 2001 .

[34]  J. Mayhew,et al.  Changes in Blood Flow, Oxygenation, and Volume Following Extended Stimulation of Rodent Barrel Cortex , 2002, NeuroImage.

[35]  Minghua Xu,et al.  Time-domain reconstruction for thermoacoustic tomography in a spherical geometry , 2002, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[36]  Minghua Xu,et al.  Photoacoustic tomography of biological tissues with high cross-section resolution: reconstruction and experiment. , 2002, Medical physics.