Cerebral Blood Flow Monitoring by Diffuse Speckle Contrast Analysis during MCAO Surgery in the Rat

Abstract

The rodent model has been used frequently to understand stroke pathophysiology, due to its low cost and the large spectrum of genetic strains available. Here, we present a diffuse speckle contrast analysis system (DSCA) with a 1 × 2 optical switch that was used to non-invasively assess cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes in the rat during intraluminal suturing for middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) surgery. The blood flow index (BFI) in the left hemisphere was lower than that in the right hemisphere because the left middle cerebral artery was occluded. Furthermore, the performance of the DSCA system was compared with that of commercial laser Doppler flowmetry. The changes in the BFI measured by the two systems were correlated strongly. The DSCA system was less sensitive to motion artifacts and able to measure relatively deep tissue flow in the rat’s brain. In conclusion, the DSCA system secured CBF monitoring during surgery in a rodent model without craniotomy. © 2017 Current Optics and Photonics.