Figure 9. Functional mapping of hemodynamics across five vessel generations in the retina.

(A) Montage of multiple AOSLO imaging fields showing structure of the mouse retinal vascular tree. The center of the optic disk is marked with a green star. Arterioles in which flow was studied in this mouse are shown with red arrows: A1 (2^nd gen), A2 (4^th gen.), A3 (5^th gen.) and A4 (5^th gen.). Blue arrow shows a 1^st gen. venule (V1) adjacent to this arteriolar branch. All arrows point toward direction of blood flow. (B) Quantification of conservation of flow at a branch point, in the vessels A2, A3 and A4. Flow is conserved within a < 8.9% error, validating our technique’s measurement accuracy in these independent measures made within minutes of each other. (C) Instantaneous velocity vs time plots for the vessels labelled in A. (D) Instantaneous flow rate vs time profiles, derived by multiplying each profile in B with the lumen diameter of the vessel. In summary, a functional map across five vessels generations in the same mouse is shown, showing temporal dynamics of microvascular blood flow.