Combined Nanodrops Imaging and Ultrasound Localization Microscopy for Detecting Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Imaging
• Neuroscience
• Vascular Biology

Background:

• Advanced imaging is vital for stroke research, but current methods like MRI, CT, and optical imaging have limitations in rodent models.
• MRI and CT lack sufficient spatial resolution for rodent brains, while optical imaging has limited penetration depth.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method to overcome limitations of existing techniques.
• To characterize intracerebral hemorrhage with unique insights in pre-clinical stroke models.

Main Methods:

• Combined microbubble-based ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM) for high-resolution vascular mapping.
• Utilized nanodrop (ND)-based vessel leakage imaging to detect hemorrhage sites via extravasation.

Main Results:

• Nanodrops accumulated at hemorrhagic sites, visualized with focused ultrasound.
• ULM revealed microvascular damage, including reduced vascularity and blood flow velocity in stroke-affected areas.

Conclusions:

• Sequential ULM and ND imaging is a valuable tool for in vivo stroke research in rodent models.
• This technique enables essential brain-wide detection of active bleeding and microvascular impairment.