The knowledge of the optical properties of biological tissues in a wide spectral range is highly important for the development of noninvasive diagnostic or treatment procedures. The dispersion coefficient is one of those properties, from which various information about tissue components can be retrieved. This study is focused on the measurements of the refractive index of ex vivo cow brain gray matter samples in the visible/near-infrared (NIR) spectral range at room temperature for characteristic laser wavelengths: 480, 486, 546, 589, 644, 656, 680, 800, 930, 1100, 1300, and 1550 nm. Measurements were performed using the multiwavelength Abbe refractometer. Cow brain gray matter samples of 0.5 mm thick obtained from ex vivo cow brain were investigated. The specific increment of the refractive index depending on the temperature of the samples and the Sellmeier coefficients was calculated. The experimental results allowed us to calculate the cow brain gray matter dispersion with the Cauchy, Conrady, and Cornu equations. It was observed that all those equations provided good data fitting in the spectral range of the measurements, but differences were observed outside these limits. We validated the proposed method using distilled water and the cow brain gray matter ex vivo, and the experimental results were consistent with the reference data.
The light source-based medical techniques for brain imaging, diagnosis, and treatment are very common clinical tools. However, applying these techniques is limited due to the high attenuation of light in the scalp and skull. Such optical attenuation reduces the achievable spatial resolution and precludes the visualization of small features such as brain microvessels. The present study aims to clarify the current methods for providing a desired optical access to the brain with good visualization of the microvessels. The strategy involves the use of transparent cranial implants and optical clearing agents to improve the optical access for laser speckle imaging of cerebral microvasculature. In vivo laser speckle imaging experiments of the mouse, cerebral blood vessels showed that the proposed optical access with combined transmittance of the optically cleared scalp overlying the transparent cranial implant increased signal to noise ratio and image resolution, allowing for visualization of microvessels through the transparent implant, which was not possible through the uncleared scalp and intact skull.
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