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Bourquin C, Porée J, Rauby B, Perrot V, Ghigo N, Belgharbi H, Bélanger S, Ramos-Palacios G, Cortes N, Ladret H, Ikan L, Casanova C, Lesage F, Provost J. Quantitative pulsatility measurements using 3D dynamic ultrasound localization microscopy. Phys Med Biol 2024; 69:045017. [PMID: 38181421 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/ad1b68] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 01/05/2024] [Indexed: 01/07/2024]
Abstract
A rise in blood flow velocity variations (i.e. pulsatility) in the brain, caused by the stiffening of upstream arteries, is associated with cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative diseases. The study of this phenomenon requires brain-wide pulsatility measurements, with large penetration depth and high spatiotemporal resolution. The development of dynamic ultrasound localization microscopy (DULM), based on ULM, has enabled pulsatility measurements in the rodent brain in 2D. However, 2D imaging accesses only one slice of the brain and measures only 2D-projected and hence biased velocities . Herein, we present 3D DULM: using a single ultrasound scanner at high frame rate (1000-2000 Hz), this method can produce dynamic maps of microbubbles flowing in the bloodstream and extract quantitative pulsatility measurements in the cat brain with craniotomy and in the mouse brain through the skull, showing a wide range of flow hemodynamics in both large and small vessels. We highlighted a decrease in pulsatility along the vascular tree in the cat brain, which could be mapped with ultrasound down to a few tens of micrometers for the first time. We also performed an intra-animal validation of the method by showing consistent measurements between the two sides of the Willis circle in the mouse brain. Our study provides the first step towards a new biomarker that would allow the detection of dynamic abnormalities in microvessels in the brain, which could be linked to early signs of neurodegenerative diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chloé Bourquin
- Department of Engineering Physics, Polytechnique Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
| | - Jonathan Porée
- Department of Engineering Physics, Polytechnique Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
| | - Brice Rauby
- Department of Engineering Physics, Polytechnique Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
| | - Vincent Perrot
- Department of Engineering Physics, Polytechnique Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
| | - Nin Ghigo
- Department of Engineering Physics, Polytechnique Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
| | - Hatim Belgharbi
- Department of Engineering Physics, Polytechnique Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States of America
| | | | | | - Nelson Cortes
- School of Optometry, University of Montreal, Montréal, QC H3T 1P1, Canada
| | - Hugo Ladret
- School of Optometry, University of Montreal, Montréal, QC H3T 1P1, Canada
- Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, UMR 7289, CNRS and Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, F-13005, France
| | - Lamyae Ikan
- School of Optometry, University of Montreal, Montréal, QC H3T 1P1, Canada
| | - Christian Casanova
- School of Optometry, University of Montreal, Montréal, QC H3T 1P1, Canada
| | - Frédéric Lesage
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
- Montreal Heart Institute, Montréal, QC H1T 1C8, Canada
| | - Jean Provost
- Department of Engineering Physics, Polytechnique Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
- Montreal Heart Institute, Montréal, QC H1T 1C8, Canada
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