Frontiers in Neuroscience (Aug 2019)

Transcranial Recording of Electrophysiological Neural Activity in the Rodent Brain in vivo Using Functional Photoacoustic Imaging of Near-Infrared Voltage-Sensitive Dye

  • Jeeun Kang,
  • Jeeun Kang,
  • Haichong K. Zhang,
  • Haichong K. Zhang,
  • Shilpa D. Kadam,
  • Julie Fedorko,
  • Heather Valentine,
  • Adarsha P. Malla,
  • Ping Yan,
  • Maged M. Harraz,
  • Jin U. Kang,
  • Arman Rahmim,
  • Albert Gjedde,
  • Albert Gjedde,
  • Leslie M. Loew,
  • Dean F. Wong,
  • Dean F. Wong,
  • Dean F. Wong,
  • Dean F. Wong,
  • Dean F. Wong,
  • Dean F. Wong,
  • Emad M. Boctor,
  • Emad M. Boctor

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.00579
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

Read online

Minimally-invasive monitoring of electrophysiological neural activities in real-time—that enables quantification of neural functions without a need for invasive craniotomy and the longer time constants of fMRI and PET—presents a very challenging yet significant task for neuroimaging. In this paper, we present in vivo functional PA (fPA) imaging of chemoconvulsant rat seizure model with intact scalp using a fluorescence quenching-based cyanine voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) characterized by a lipid vesicle model mimicking different levels of membrane potential variation. The framework also involves use of a near-infrared VSD delivered through the blood-brain barrier (BBB), opened by pharmacological modulation of adenosine receptor signaling. Our normalized time-frequency analysis presented in vivo VSD response in the seizure group significantly distinguishable from those of the control groups at sub-mm spatial resolution. Electroencephalogram (EEG) recording confirmed the changes of severity and frequency of brain activities, induced by chemoconvulsant seizures of the rat brain. The findings demonstrate that the near-infrared fPA VSD imaging is a promising tool for in vivo recording of brain activities through intact scalp, which would pave a way to its future translation in real time human brain imaging.

Keywords