Detection of low-frequency oscillations in neonatal piglets with speckle contrast diffuse correlation tomography

Significance: Low-frequency oscillations (LFOs) (<0.1 Hz) with respect to cerebral blood flow (CBF) have shown promise as an indicator of altered neurologic activity in the abnormal brain. Portable optical instruments have evolved to offer a noninvasive alternative for continuous CBF monitoring at the bedside compared with many large neuroimaging modalities. However, their utilization for acquiring LFOs of CBF has only been studied to a limited extent. Aim: We aim to optimize an innovative speckle contrast diffuse correlation tomography (scDCT) system for the detection of LFOs within CBF variations. Approach: The scDCT was optimized to achieve a higher sampling rate and a faster image reconstruction using a moving window 3D reconstruction algorithm with parallel computation. Power spectral density (PSD) analysis was performed to investigate altered LFOs during transient global cerebral ischemia in neonatal piglets. Results: Transient global cerebral ischemia resulted in reductions in both CBF and PSD compared with their baseline values. Conclusions: Spontaneous LFOs, combined with CBF, provide a more comprehensive assay with the potential to clarify pathological mechanisms involved in brain injury. These results support scDCT’s inclusion and application in the growing area of LFO analysis and demonstrate its inherent advantage for neurological studies in preclinical and clinical settings, such as neonatal intensive care units.