Functional vascular imaging by Photoacoustic Microscopy (PAM) and its biomedical application

Abstract

The hemodynamics and oxygen saturation status of vascular are very important biomarkers for disease, such as brain glioma tumor and ischemia-reperfusion ulcer. Therefore, a high spatial resolution imaging tool for vascular imaging is demanded. Conventional optical imaging modalities, including confocal microscopy and two-photon microscopy, require external contrast agent to image blood vessels and are not sensitive to oxygen saturation. The development of photoacoustic microscopy provides a contrast-free, high-spatial resolution and functional vascular imaging tool. It’s gaining more and more popularity in biomedical research. In this paper, we introduce a dual-wavelength opticalresolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) system for functional imaging of vasculature. This system has demonstrated its application in brain glioma tumor imaging, as well as skin ischemia-reperfusion imaging.