Label free, capillary-scale blood flow mapping in vivo reveals that low-intensity focused ultrasound evokes persistent dilation in cortical microvasculature
2025

Blood Flow Changes in the Brain from Focused Ultrasound

Sample size: 20 publication 10 minutes Evidence: high

Author Information

Author(s): Shen YuBing Y., Jethe Jyoti V., Reid Ashlan P., Hehir Jacob, Amaral Marcello Magri, Ren Chao, Hao Senyue, Zhou Chao, Fisher Jonathan A. N.

Primary Institution: New York Medical College

Hypothesis

Can low-intensity focused ultrasound (FUS) induce persistent dilation in cortical microvasculature?

Conclusion

The study found that low-intensity focused ultrasound causes significant and persistent dilation in small-diameter blood vessels in the brain.

Supporting Evidence

  • FUS caused a 17% increase in diameter of small vessels within 1 minute after sonication.
  • At a higher intensity, FUS resulted in a 27% increase in small vessel diameter.
  • Significant dilation in small vessels persisted beyond 10 minutes after sonication.

Takeaway

This study shows that a special type of sound can make tiny blood vessels in the brain get bigger and stay that way for a while.

Methodology

The study used a custom optical coherence tomography angiography device to measure blood vessel dilation in mice after applying focused ultrasound.

Limitations

The study was conducted in mice, which may not fully represent human responses.

Participant Demographics

Adult male C57BL/6J mice aged 4-6 months.

Statistical Information

P-Value

p<0.0001

Statistical Significance

p<0.0001

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1038/s42003-024-07356-2

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