An Updated Review of Methods and Advancements in Microvascular Blood Flow Imaging

Abstract

There has been a consistent growth in research involving imaging of microvasculature over the past few decades. By 2008, publications mentioning the microcirculation had grown more than 2000 per annum. Many techniques have been demonstrated for the measurement of the microcirculation ranging from the earliest invasive techniques to the present high-speed, high-resolution noninvasive imaging techniques. Understanding the microvasculature is vital in tackling fundamental research questions as well as to understand the effects of disease progression on the physiological well-being of an individual. We have previously provided a wide-ranging review covering most of the available techniques and their applications. In this review, we discuss the recent advances made and applications in the field of microcirculation imaging.

Smooth Muscle Ion Channels and Regulation of Vascular Tone in Resistance Arteries and Arterioles

“…The measurement of blood pressure (1253) and blood flow (463, 516, 812, 1159, 1368) in intact animals provides a 30, 000 ft view of the integrated function of resistance artery and arteriolar networks. However, these approaches do not provide the resolution to define the site of action of drugs or interventions on ion channel function that can be achieved by the study of single cells or isolated vessels, in vitro , or imaging of single vessels or microvascular networks, in vivo .…”

Introductory Chapter: Microcirculation in Health and Disease

“…Mostly applied optical imaging techniques for clinical evaluation of the microcirculation today include (dynamic) capillaroscopy, confocal microscopy, two photon imaging, and stimulated emission depletion microscopy for tracing superficial structures; optical coherence tomography, hyperspectral imaging, side stream dark field imaging, and incident dark field imaging for assessing subsuperficial microvascular beds; and diffusion correlation spectroscopy, functional near infrared spectroscopy, and photoacoustic tomography to assess deeper structures [39]. Obviously, each technique is designed for determination of special microcirculation network and its position regarding the depth of a tissue.…”

Nanosensitive optical coherence tomography to assess wound healing within the cornea

“…However, the best ultra-high resolution OCT systems are limited to detecting structural changes with a resolution of one micron on a single B-scan within very limited depth [3]. Currently, the axial resolution for imaging in scattering tissues is generally limited to a maximum of (imaging depth)/200 [6]. Though several superresolution and nanoscale detection techniques were proposed recently, imaging structures over four orders of magnitude in size, using the same imaging technique, remains a challenge [7].…”