Photobiomodulation (PBM) appears promising to treat the hallmarks of Parkinson's Disease (PD) in cellular or animal models. We measured light propagation in different areas of PD-relevant deep brain tissue during transcranial, transsphenoidal illumination (at 671 and 808 nm) of a cadaver head and modeled optical parameters of human brain tissue using Monte-Carlo simulations. Gray matter, white matter, cerebrospinal fluid, ventricles, thalamus, pons, cerebellum and skull bone were processed into a mesh of the skull (158 × 201 × 211 voxels; voxel side length: 1 mm). Optical parameters were optimized from simulated and measured fluence rate distributions. The estimated μeff for the different tissues was in all cases larger at 671 than at 808 nm, making latter a better choice for light delivery in the deep brain. Absolute values were comparable to those found in the literature or slightly smaller. The effective attenuation in the ventricles was considerably larger than literature values. Optimization yields a new set of optical parameters better reproducing the experimental data. A combination of PBM via the sphenoid sinus and oral cavity could be beneficial. A 20-fold higher efficiency of light delivery to the deep brain was achieved with ventricular instead of transcranial illumination. Our study demonstrates that it is possible to illuminate deep brain tissues transcranially, transsphenoidally and via different application routes. This opens therapeutic options for sufferers of PD or other cerebral diseases necessitating light therapy.

The optical properties within limited volumes of diffusive media can be probed by carrying spatially-resolved measurements of diffused light at short source-detector separation (typically one scattering mean free path). At such distance, analytical models only relying on the absorption and reduced scattering coefficients fail at correctly predicting reflectance and it was demonstrated that adding a third optical coefficient γ improves the description of light propagation conditions near the source. In an attempt to relate the γ coefficient to physical properties of turbid media, this paper uses a fractal distribution law for modeling scatterers' sizes distributions and investigates numerically and experimentally how γ is related to the fractal power α. The results indicate that within the range of γ typically encountered in biological samples, this coefficient is approximately linearly correlated with α.

The outcome of light-based therapeutic approaches depends on light propagation in biological tissues, which is governed by their optical properties. The objective of this study was to quantify optical properties of brain tissue in vivo and postmortem and assess changes due to tissue handling postmortem. The study was carried out on eight female New Zealand white rabbits. The local fluence rate was measured in the VIS/NIR range in the brain in vivo, just postmortem, and after six weeks' storage of the head at −20 °C or in 10% formaldehyde solution. Only minimal changes in the effective attenuation coefficient μ eff were observed for two methods of sacrifice, exsanguination or injection of KCl. Under all tissue conditions, μ eff decreased with increasing wavelengths. After long-term storage for six weeks at −20 °C, μ eff decreased, on average, by 15 to 25% at all wavelengths, while it increased by 5 to 15% at all wavelengths after storage in formaldehyde. We demonstrated that μ eff was not very sensitive to the method of animal sacrifice, that tissue freezing significantly altered tissue optical properties, and that formalin fixation might affect the tissue's optical properties.

A novel approach for the simulation of the field back-scattered from a rough surface is presented. It takes into account polarization and multiple scattering events on the surface, as well as diffraction effects. The validity and usefulness of this simulation is demonstrated in the case of surface topology measurement.

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