Imaging 3D spatiotemporal hemodynamics of single cortical vessels in vivo using two-photon laser scanning microscopy – Peifang Tian

Date: Mon. November 22nd, 2010, 12:30 pm-1:30 pm
Location: Rockefeller 221

The dynamics response of individual cerebral vessels to sensory-stimuli is crucial to form a mechanistic understanding of functional imaging technologies, such as functional MRI (fMRI), as well as for understanding neurovascular dysfunction, as occurs in stroke and dementia. Using optical imaging technologies such as two-photon laser scanning microscopy and the rat primary sensory cortex as our animal model, we have characterized the stimulus-evoked cerebral hemodynamic response on the level of single arterioles and capillaries throughout a significant three-dimensional volume (~1-2mm3) in vivo. Further, we will relate this characterization to the underlying neuronal electrical activity and the angioarchitecture. In this talk, I will discuss the diameter changes of three classes of vessels, i.e., surface arteries/arterioles, penetrating arterioles, and subsurface microvessels, in response to electric forepaw stimulation. In particular, I will focus on the dependence of a vessel’s response on its distance from the center of the neuronal activity, its depth in the cortical tissue, and its connectivity to penetrating arterioles. This work helps to bridge the critical gap between macroscopic functional imaging technologies such as fMRI and the microscopic understanding of single vessel responses to the neuronal activation.