Abstract

Attempts were made to visualize the functional change inside a living biological body using a transillumination technique. With a near-infrared light, the transillumination images of a mouse abdomen and a rat brain were obtained. To examine the feasibility of functional imaging, a localized hypoxia was made in each of above body parts. They were visualized using transillumination images of multiple wavelengths of light. It was found that the changes in the brain blood volume and in the oxygenation state of tissues could be detected noninvasively. In this way, the spatial distribution of these changes could be visualized in the transillumination images of a living body. Through this study, the feasibility of optical trans-body imaging of physiological functions was verified.

© 1996 Optical Society of America