Imaging visually evoked hemodynamic response in the cortical and subcortical regions in free-moving mice with photoacoustic tomography

Many techniques exist for screening retinal phenotypes in mouse models in vision research, but significant challenges remain for efficiently probing higher visual centers of the brain. The purpose of this study is to implement photoacoustic computed tomography to brain imaging in unanesthetized and unrestrained, i.e. free-moving, mice. A headmount integrating PA illumination and reception, and visual stimulation devices was fabricated. Preliminary results show that the free-moving mice have higher magnitude (n=3,8, p<10-4) and longer sustain in their responses compared to the anesthetized ones.