In vivo multispectral imaging of the absorption and scattering properties of exposed brain using a digital red–green–blue camera

To evaluate multi-spectral images of the absorption and scattering properties in the cerebral cortex of rat brain, we investigated spectral reflectance images estimated by the Wiener estimation method using a digital red–green–blue camera. A Monte Carlo simulation-based multiple regression analysis for the corresponding spectral absorbance images at nine wavelengths (500, 520, 540, 560, 570, 580, 600, 730, and 760 nm) was then used to specify the absorption and scattering parameters. The spectral images of absorption and reduced scattering coefficients were reconstructed from the absorption and scattering parameters. We performed in vivo experiments on exposed rat brain to confirm the feasibility of this method. The estimated images of the absorption coefficients were dominated by hemoglobin spectra. The estimated images of the reduced scattering coefficients had a broad scattering spectrum, exhibiting a larger magnitude at shorter wavelengths, corresponding to the typical spectrum of brain tissue published in the literature.