Selective photoactivation of neural activity combined with laser speckle imaging of cerebral blood flow.

Neural activity leads to alterations in cerebral blood flow (CBF), i.e., neurovascular regulation, which is implicated in brain physiology and pathology. Here a method for simultaneous imaging of CBF and spatially selective photoactivation of neural activity is proposed. CBF was obtained by laser speckle contrast imaging, and a liquid-crystal spatial light modulator (LC-SLM) was used to generate photoactivation patterns targeting designated locations in the cortex. Animal experiments stimulating defined cortical regions of VGAT-ChR2 and wild-type mice were conducted, and experiments with low-intensity stimulation were performed to investigate the influence of background light produced by the LC-SLM.