Washington University in St. Louis, Optical Imaging Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, One Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1097, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA.
J Biomed Opt. 2011 Feb;16(2):026004. doi: 10.1117/1.3536522.
Microcirculation is an important component of the cardiovascular system and can be used to assess systemic cardiovascular health. Numerous studies have investigated cutaneous microcirculation as an indicator of cardiovascular related diseases. Such research has shown promising results; however, there are many limitations regarding the employed measurement techniques, such as poor depth and spatial resolution and measurement versatility. Here we show the results of functional cutaneous microvascular experiments measured with photoacoustic microscopy, which provides high spatial resolution and multiparameter measurements. In a set of experiments, microvascular networks located in the palms of volunteers were perturbed by periodic ischemic events, and the subsequent hemodynamic response to the stimulus was recorded. Results indicate that during periods of arterial occlusion, the relative oxygen saturation of the capillary vessels decreased below resting levels, and temporarily increased above resting levels immediately following the occlusion. Furthermore, a hyperemic reaction to the occlusions was measured, and the observation agreed well with similar measurements using more conventional imaging techniques. Due to its exceptional capability to functionally image vascular networks with high spatial resolution, photoacoustic microscopy could be a beneficial biomedical tool to assess microvascular functioning and applied to patients with diseases that affect cardiovascular health. © 2011 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.
微循环是心血管系统的重要组成部分，可用于评估全身心血管健康。许多研究已经将皮肤微循环作为心血管相关疾病的指标进行了研究。此类研究已经取得了有希望的结果；然而，所采用的测量技术存在许多局限性，例如深度和空间分辨率差以及测量的多功能性。在这里，我们展示了使用光声显微镜测量的功能性皮肤微血管实验的结果，该显微镜提供了高空间分辨率和多参数测量。在一组实验中，志愿者手掌中的微血管网络受到周期性缺血事件的干扰，并记录了对刺激的随后血液动力学反应。结果表明，在动脉闭塞期间，毛细血管的相对氧饱和度降低到静息水平以下，并且在闭塞后立即暂时增加到静息水平以上。此外，还测量了对闭塞的充血反应，并且观察结果与使用更常规的成像技术进行的类似测量吻合良好。由于其具有以高空间分辨率对血管网络进行功能成像的出色能力，光声显微镜可能成为评估微血管功能的有益的生物医学工具，并可应用于患有影响心血管健康的疾病的患者。©2011 年光电成像仪器工程师协会。
