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Direct observation of living brains is difficult and requires invasive and dangerous surgery to cut the skin and bones. Scientists can now peer through skulls thanks to powerful technology borrowed from the field of astronomy.
Porous and often inconsistent structures such as bone tend to scatter light in unpredictable ways, frustrating efforts to “see” through them using medical technology.
However, scientists have now discovered a new method of creating a clear image of what lies behind the skull from diffuse infrared light reflected by a laser.
“Our microscope allows us to investigate subtle internal structures deep in living tissues that cannot be resolved by other means,” said physicists Seokchan Yoon and Hojun Lee of Korea University.
An earlier technique called three-photon microscopy could have had limited success in capturing neutron images in the brains of mice, but anything larger than a mouse skull required surgery.
This method also requires longer wavelengths and a specialized gel to work and has limited penetration, with a significant risk of inflicting at least some damage on the subject.
However, by combining this existing technique with methods typically used in terrestrial astronomy, Yoon and his team created high-resolution images of a mouse’s neural networks from behind its skull.
The astronomical approach, known as computational adaptive optics, typically mitigates the distortion in ground-based optics astronomy readings, but has proved invaluable in seeing behind the skull.
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The new imaging technology, known as laser scanning reflection matrix microscopy (LS-RMM), is so called because it derives a complete input-output response data set from the scattered laser light.
In other words, some of the laser’s photons can pass through the skull while others are scattered in a variety of different directions. The new process takes into account data derived from all photons to build a more complete image of the brain behind the bone wall, correcting any distortions.
“This will help us a lot in the early diagnosis of diseases and will accelerate neuroscientific research”, researchers say.
For now, one of the main drawbacks of the method is the sheer volume of computing power required to make sense of the reflection matrix. But the technique is still in its infancy and advances in computing power continue steadily.
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