In this study, we developed a label-free photoacoustic computed tomography system to monitor the visually-evoked hemodynamic changes in response to retinal photostimulation by flickering white light. The acoustic signals were collected by a 256-element linear ultrasound transducer array with a 10MHz central frequency, and a 750nm pulsed laser with a 10Hz repetition rate was used as the excitation source to avoid stimulating retinal photoreceptors. During the stimulation, the hemodynamic responses within the visual regions, such as the primary visual cortex, superior colliculus, and suprachiasmatic nucleus, have been observed. This demonstrates that our system can examine visually-evoked brain responses, and has the potential to study the brain activities in mouse models of retinal diseases.
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