Near infrared imaging of intrinsic signals in cortical spreading depression observed through the intact scalp in hairless mice.

Brain cooling was inevitable in both thinned and intact skull windows in neuroimaging in vivo of mice. Thus we proposed the novel imaging method leaving intact scalp on the skull using the light at 670, 785, and 975 nm. In this study, we used hairless mice (Hos:HR-1) since the deterioration of image quality was resulted from the hair. Cortical spreading depression was induced by KCl application through small incision and burr hole on the frontal bone. Intrinsic optical signals through the intact scalp in the observation area were detected. Time course of the signal showed a triphasic feature which was consistent with the intrinsic optical signals through the intact skull. In three pairs of signal amplitudes at the different wavelengths, no significant differences were observed. Although the intact scalp weakened the amplitudes significantly, e.g., 4.0 from 6.9 at 975 nm, the signals during cortical spreading depression were sufficient to be detected.