Multimodal Image Analysis of Blood Flow and Blood Components of Rodent Skin Flap for Understanding Necrosis

Hypoxia of blood and low red blood cell ratio in blood cause necrosis and dysfunction of the tissue. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of blood components and flow on the tissue using a rat flap which is a partly pulled-out thick skin with blood circulation. In this study, under controlling the oxygen saturation and the flow of the blood in vivo, the reflection and transmission images of entire flap are captured with a hyperspectral camera, a high-definition color camera and an infrared camera. Using those images, multidimensional image analysis is performed to understand the vascular structure, blood flow and those changes over time. In the presentation, a part of this image analysis is demonstrated.