Infection with Toxoplasma gondii triggers coagulation at the blood-brain barrier and a reduction in cerebral blood flow.

Background: Immunothrombosis is the process by which the coagulation cascade interacts with the innate immune system to control infection. However, the formation of clots within the brain vasculature can be detrimental to the host. Recent work has demonstrated that Toxoplasma gondii infects and lyses central nervous system (CNS) endothelial cells that form the blood-brain barrier (BBB).

Semi-automated protocol to quantify and characterize fluorescent three-dimensional vascular images.

The microvasculature facilitates gas exchange, provides nutrients to cells, and regulates blood flow in response to stimuli. Vascular abnormalities are an indicator of pathology for various conditions, such as compromised vessel integrity in small vessel disease and angiogenesis in tumors. Traditional immunohistochemistry enables the visualization of tissue cross-sections containing exogenously labeled vasculature.

Quantifying tissue properties and absolute hemodynamics using coherent spatial imaging.

Significance: Measuring hemodynamic function is crucial for health assessment. Optical signals provide relative hemoglobin concentration changes, but absolute measurements require costly, bulky technology. Speckleplethysmography (SPG) uses coherent light to detect speckle fluctuations.

Quantitative hemodynamic imaging: a method to correct the effects of optical properties on laser speckle imaging.

Significance: Studying cerebral hemodynamics may provide diagnostic information on neurological conditions. Wide-field imaging techniques, such as laser speckle imaging (LSI) and optical intrinsic signal imaging, are commonly used to study cerebral hemodynamics. However, they often do not account appropriately for the optical properties of the brain that can vary among subjects and even during a single measurement.

Intrinsic, widefield optical imaging of hemodynamics in rodent models of Alzheimer's disease and neurological injury.

The complex cerebrovascular network is critical to controlling local cerebral blood flow (CBF) and maintaining brain homeostasis. Alzheimer's disease (AD) and neurological injury can result in impaired CBF regulation, blood-brain barrier breakdown, neurovascular dysregulation, and ultimately impaired brain homeostasis. Measuring cortical hemodynamic changes in rodents can help elucidate the complex physiological dynamics that occur in AD and neurological injury.