Abstract #1507

Dehghani H, Dunn J

Near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy is being used increasingly to study brain physiology and biochemistry in animals and humans. Interpretation of these studies requires information on light penetration. This project combines MRI and NIR data. It uses MR images to obtain 3D structural information in rodent heads. This information was used as a-priori knowledge to predict light paths in rodent brain. Predictions were modeled as a function of wavelength and distance between the source and detector. Reconstructions show a small dependence on wavelength and that the optimum fiber separation for obtaining cortical information from a mouse brain is approximately 5mm.