Multimodal reconstruction of microvascular-flow distributions using combined two-photon microscopy and Doppler optical coherence tomography

Neurophotonics. 2015 Jan;2(1):015008. doi: 10.1117/1.NPh.2.1.015008. Epub 2015 Mar 12.

Abstract

Computing microvascular cerebral blood flow ([Formula: see text]) in real cortical angiograms is challenging. Here, we investigated whether the use of Doppler optical coherence tomography (DOCT) flow measurements in individual vessel segments can help in reconstructing [Formula: see text] across the entire vasculature of a truncated cortical angiogram. A [Formula: see text] computational framework integrating DOCT measurements is presented. Simulations performed on a synthetic angiogram showed that the addition of DOCT measurements, especially close to large inflowing or outflowing vessels, reduces the impact of pressure boundary conditions and estimated vessel resistances resulting in a more accurate reconstruction of [Formula: see text]. Our technique was then applied to reconstruct microvascular flow distributions in the mouse cortex down to [Formula: see text] by combining two-photon laser scanning microscopy angiography with DOCT.

Keywords: cerebral blood flow; microvasculature; multimodal imaging; optical coherence tomography; two-photon microscopy.