Imaging Circulation in the Eye Could Predict Brain Diseases

The brain is one of the most metabolically active organs in the human body. Although it represents only about 2 percent of the human body’s weight, it receives 15 to 20 percent of the body’s total blood supply. Disrupted blood flow to the brain over a long period of time, a condition known as “chronic cerebral hypoperfusion” (CCH), can lead to serious cerebrovascular diseases such as white matter disease.

CCH manifests as lesions in the white matter, a brain region vulnerable to problems with blood supply. Unfortunately, CCH has no available cure. An early diagnosis by visualizing the microvascular changes in the brain that occur prior to lesion development is thus crucial. However, such a diagnosis is challenging with the available imaging techniques.

Conveniently, insights into the microvasculature of the brain may come from our eyes. The retina at the back of the eye is a peripheral part of the central nervous system and shares many similarities with cerebral brain matter. But it has fewer nerve cell types and a simpler structure, making it an excellent target for studying neural circuitry and neurovascular coupling.

In a recent study published in Neurophotonics, researchers from USA and China led by Baoqiang Li, Associate Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, investigated whether blood flow in the retina at the microscopic level could be used to predict cerebrovascular diseases involving hypoperfusion. To test this hypothesis, the team developed an innovative imaging approach based on two-photon microscopy.

Reference: Li B, Leng J, Şencan-Eğilmez I, et al. Differential reductions in the capillary red-blood-cell flux between retina and brain under chronic global hypoperfusion. Neuroph. 2023;10(3):035001. doi: 10.1117/1.NPh.10.3.035001

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