The International Conference on Nanophotonics (ICNP 2024)

Ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes are serious threats to human health and life. Ischemic stroke accounts for the majority of stroke cases and is strongly age-dependent. Creating standard animal models at different ages could help to study the process and outcome of ischemic stroke, and future benefits to develop effective prevention and treatment strategies. In this study, we proposed a photothrombosis induction methodology based on optical resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) to induce and monitor cerebral thrombosis in mice simultaneously. We observed the molding process in mice of different ages and presented age-dependent vascular differentiation. Furthermore, we combined optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) with this method to investigate the age-related cerebrovascular variety trend after stroke. Both image and quantitative analysis results presented the differential response to stroke in mice of different ages, which demonstrated that it possesses the significant potential to evaluate the cerebrovascular condition and reveal age-related mechanisms in the stroke process. In addition, we built a dual-wavelength head-mounted photoacoustic microscopy and realized synchronous stroke modeling, vascular monitoring, and behavioral monitoring on freely moving mice. It provides a promising method for studying the behavioral manifestations during the formation process of ischemic stroke.