"Cat"-ology : spectrally resolved neurophotonics in the mammalian brain and phantom studies
Physicists provide significant contributions to the field of Biology and Medical Sciences by applying basic physics principles to the field. Specifically, in this work, we probed the light-matter interactions in the NIR region to understand physiological processes in the mammalian brain. We sought to improve on existing principles and propose a new technique by which we can decipher these processes spectrally. This technique touted to be independent of the light transport regime allowed us to examine the hemodynamics and neuronal activity. The aim was then to test this technique and see if it produces results that were comparable to the well established Fd-NIRS in distinguishing physiological processes. Secondly, we wanted to prove that this technique was light transport regime independent which is not the case for the Fd-NIRS. The cat was chosen as an ideal test subject as its anatomy is such that photons are not fully diffusive before being detected as the total size of the grey matter in the cat is roughly 3mm thick. Additionally, we had a priori information about the activation of the visual cortex as a response to specific stimuli
Thesis, Dissertation, English, 2006