High-speed label-free functional photoacoustic microscopy of mouse brain in action

Photoacoustic microscopy is a hybrid imaging technology based on the conversion of absorbed light into ultrasound emission. A single-wavelength pulse-width-based method allows fast functional imaging of the brain. We present fast functional photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) for three-dimensional high-resolution, high-speed imaging of the mouse brain, complementary to other imaging modalities. We implemented a single-wavelength pulse-width-based method with a one-dimensional imaging rate of 100 kHz to image blood oxygenation with capillary-level resolution. We applied PAM to image the vascular morphology, blood oxygenation, blood flow and oxygen metabolism in both resting and stimulated states in the mouse brain.