Optical Modalities for Research, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Stroke and the Consequent Brain Injuries

Abstract

Stroke is the second most common cause of death and third most common cause of disability worldwide. Therefore, it is an important disease from a medical standpoint. For this reason, various studies have developed diagnostic and therapeutic techniques for stroke. Among them, developments and applications of optical modalities are being extensively studied. In this article, we explored three important optical modalities for research, diagnostic, and therapeutics for stroke and the brain injuries related to it: (1) photochemical thrombosis to investigate stroke animal models; (2) optical imaging techniques for in vivo preclinical studies on stroke; and (3) optical neurostimulation based therapy for stroke. We believe that an exploration and an analysis of previous studies will help us proceed from research to clinical applications of optical modalities for research, diagnosis, and treatment of stroke.

Label‐free, whole‐brain in vivo mapping in an adult vertebrate with third harmonic generation microscopy

“…Investigating these diseases would require studying several cell types consisting of neurons, astrocytes, microglia, and more (Freitas‐Andrade et al., 2020). However, studies are typically limited in the number of fluorescent reporters they are able to observe with a given microscope (Murphy et al., 2008; Oh et al., 2022; Schrandt et al., 2015). The label‐free nature of the THG signal obtained from RBCs allows for fluorescent labeling of other features instead (such as microglia or neurons), allowing for multiplexing of information with minimal adjustments to a multiphoton microscope.…”

“…Investigating these diseases would require studying several cell types consisting of neurons, astrocytes, microglia, and more (Freitas-Andrade et al, 2020). However, studies are typically limited in the number of fluorescent reporters they are able to observe with a given microscope (Murphy et al, 2008;Oh et al, 2022;Schrandt et al, 2015).…”

A novel transcranial photobiomodulation device to address motor signs of Parkinson's disease: a parallel randomised feasibility study

“…The use of transcranial PBM (tPBM) has been explored in translational models of neurodegenerative and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, 10 , 11 traumatic brain injury, 12 stroke, 13 and anxiety/depression. 14 , 15 While its use for Parkinson's disease has been limited, 16 its potential as a therapy has been recognised, 17 , 18 and a recent proof-of-concept study has shown that tPBM combined with abdominal PBM, can control motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease for three years with continued treatment.…”