Oct 29 2010
Researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington, and the University of Texas at Dallas have developed a new brush optrode device that offers high sensitivity with fiber-optic tips. The device threads through hair to improve scalp contact.
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a noninvasive optical procedure that determines oxygen levels of the brain for charting neurological activity. The correlation of the brain activity can be obtained by the difference between deoxygenated hemoglobin and oxygenated hemoglobin. With the use of fNIRS, the blood oxygen level difference is calculated with a relative spectroscopic measurement done at two near-IR wavelengths. The study would open up new user-friendly, portable, high-density optical scanning of the brain activity.
The UT Arlington research team’s member, Georgios Alexandrakis stated that the optrodes could be of use in various fNIRS projects such as the analysis of changes in the brain activity of Alzheimer's patients, recovery from stroke and the pain perception. Alexandrakis added that the device might also be useful to examine the developmental changes in impaired and normal pediatric populations.
The information on the optrode will be presented at the 94th annual meeting of the Optical Society’s Frontiers in Optics 2010. The event will take place at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center in New York.