Rat retinal vasomotion assessed by laser speckle imaging.

Vasomotion is spontaneous or induced rhythmic changes in vascular tone or vessel diameter that lead to rhythmic changes in flow. While the vascular research community debates the physiological and pathophysiological consequence of vasomotion, there is a great need for experimental techniques that can address the role and dynamical properties of vasomotion in vivo. We apply laser speckle imaging to study spontaneous and drug induced vasomotion in retinal network of anesthetized rats.

Laser speckle analysis of retinal vascular dynamics.

Studies of vascular responses are usually performed on isolated vessels or on single vessels in vivo. This allows for precise measurements of diameter or blood flow. However, dynamical responses of the whole microvascular network are difficult to access experimentally.