Although studies have shown that photothermal therapy can coagulate selectively abnormal vasculature, the ability of this method to achieve consistent, complete removal of the vasculature is questionable. We present the use of multimodal, wide-field functional imaging to study, in greater detail, the biological response to selective laser injury. Specifically, a single-platform instrument capable of coregistered fluorescence imaging and laser speckle imaging was utilized to monitor vascular endothelial growth factor gene expression and blood flow, respectively, in a transgenic rodent model. Collectively, the longitudinal, in vivo data collected with our instrument suggest that the biological response to selective laser injury involves early-stage redistribution of blood flow, followed by increased vascular endothelial growth factor promoter activity to stimulate pro-angiogenic events.

Functional optical characterization of disease progression and response to therapy suffers from loss of spatial resolution and imaging depth due to scattering. Here we report on the ability of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) alone to reduce the optical scattering of skin. We observed a threefold reduction in the scattering of skin with topical DMSO application. With an in vivo window chamber model, we observed a threefold increase in light transmittance through the preparation and enhanced visualization of subsurface microvasculature. Collectively, our data demonstrate the potential of DMSO alone to mitigate effects of scattering, which we expect will improve molecular imaging studies.