By the time most stroke patients arrive at a hospital, the earliest biological changes are already underway, making these first moments elusive and hard to investigate.
In the laboratory, researchers work with mouse models to study strokes, but existing techniques don’t allow them to continuously observe those first critical moments using advanced imaging technologies. The onset of stroke, the period that may ultimately determine how much brain tissue survives, has remained largely hidden from view.
Now, Penn Engineers and collaborators at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have developed a tiny inflatable device that is making those first moments visible.
Described in a study published in Advanced Materials, the team’s MRI-compatible elastomeric micro-balloon was designed to precisely and reversibly modulate cerebral blood flow in mice, allowing researchers to capture continuous MRI and two-photon microscopy images. The platform gives scientists an unprecedented look at the brain’s immediate response to ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke caused when a blood clot blocks an artery. The technology could also help accelerate the search for treatments that must be delivered within minutes of stroke onset.
