Recent major improvements in a number of imaging techniques now allow for the study of the brain in ways that could not be considered previously. Researchers today have well-developed tools to specifically examine the dynamic nature of the blood vessels in the brain during development and adulthood; as well as to observe the vascular responses in disease situations in vivo. This review offers a concise summary and brief historical reference of different imaging techniques and how these tools can be applied to study the brain vasculature and the blood-brain barrier integrity in both healthy and disease states. Moreover, it offers an overview on available transgenic animal models to study vascular biology and a description of useful online brain atlases.
Keywords: animal models; brain atlas; brain vascular disorders; computed tomography (CT); imaging; magnetic resonance angiography (MRA); magnetic resonance angiography (MRI); molecular imaging; photoacoustic imaging (PAI); positron emission tomography (PET); vascular biology.