Three-dimensional optical tomographic brain imaging in small animals

We have developed a brain imaging system that uses continuous back-reflected light intensities to obtain spatially resolved, volumetric maps of oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin in small animals. We report on numerical results as well as experimental studies performed on rats. The numerical study verified the ability to spatially localize changes in the optical properties. The preliminary experimental results focused on visualizing the three-dimensional hemodynamic changes in a rat brain in response to perturbations in the inspired CO2 concentration.