Multifunction - Laser speckle blood flow and deoxy-hemoglobin saturation - Imaging of cerebrovascular response

A laser speckle imaging (LSI) technique, with high spatio-temporal resolution, is presented for studying cerebrovascular response to stimulation. LSI is evaluated in a rodent model of cerebrovascular activity, in a model of migraine, by eliciting functional response to brain trigeminal nerve stimulation. The specific haemodynamic response, including deoxy-hemoglobin saturation and blood flow responses in cortical vessels to the abnormal activation of the trigeminal system, are obtained from the processed LSI images. The simultaneous optical imaging methods for imaging blood flow and deoxygenation saturation changes could be of great use in basic investigation of functional brain responses in conditions such as migraine and for evaluating investigational therapeutic solutions.