[In vivo measurement of ocular circulation with the laser speckle method--development of apparatus and application in ophthalmological research].

We have developed an apparatus utilizing laser speckle phenomenon which can measure the peripheral circulation in the iris, choroid, retina and optic nerve head (ONH) and blood velocity through retinal vessels in the living eye non-invasively and quantitatively. A blue-component argon laser (wavelength 488 nm) was used for measurement of peripheral circulation in the retina and a diode laser (wavelength 808 nm) for measurements of peripheral circulation in the iris, posterior choroid and ONH, and measurement of centerline blood velocity through retinal vessels. A fundus camera (TRC-WT 3, Topcon) was equipped with a laser source and an image sensor where the speckle pattern from the fundus appears, and the data were analyzed with a personal computer to give a normalized blur (NB) value or a square blur rate (SBR) value, both quantitative indices of blood velocity. The NB value, whose computation requires much less time, was adopted to evaluate peripheral circulation because of non-linear correlation between the NB and actual blood velocity in the range above 20 mm/sec. The SBR value, whose computation requires a longer time, was adopted for measurement of blood velocity through retinal vessels. Measurement field in the living eye was 1.06 x 1.06 mm at its maximum and reproducibility index of the in vivo measurement in the rabbit iris, choroid, retina, and ONH was approximately 10%. When blood flow was changed by intraocular pressure (IOP) change in rabbit eyes, NB values obtained from the iris, choroid, and retina showed a significant correlation with the blood flow simultaneously determined with the colored microsphere technique in the same eye, and the NB obtained from the ONH also correlated with the blood flow determined with the H2 gas clearance method. Stepwise reduction in the ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) by stepwise increment of IOP resulted in proportional reduction in the iris- and choroid-NB. On the other hand, the retina- or ONH-NB remained almost unaltered at OPP levels above 50 mmHg, and decreased along with OPP at levels less than 50 mmHg. By monitoring NB values for 2 hours, presence or absence of autoregulatory mechanism against OPP change in the choroidal and ONH circulation was studied in rabbits. Throughout the experimental period of 2 hours, the choroidal NB was changed along with the OPP change, suggesting absence of blood flow autoregulation in this tissue. In the ONH, however, the NB returned to the baseline after its transient increase or decrease when the OPP was continuously increased or decreased, showing the presence of an autoregulatory mechanism in the ONH circulation. However, the time course of the NB resumption depended on the extent of OPP change. These results indicated that the laser speckle method can be useful in investigating the autoregulatory mechanism and processes of peripheral circulation in ocular tissues. Unilateral instillation of drugs with vasodilative activity (ifenprodil, betaxolol or nipradilol) in rabbit eyes significantly increased ONH and/or choroidal circulation. The extent in change in the ONH and/or choroidal circulation correlated with the number of doses, but not with the extent of IOP reduction, which suggested that the observed effects were attributable to the drug which penetrated locally. Intravenous administration of a Ca(2+)-antagonist (nicardipine, nilvadipine or pranidipine) significantly increased choroidal or retinal circulation in rabbits. The ONH circulation, however, was not affected by nicardipine, but affected by nilvadipine or pranidipine. Given the same effect on the ONH circulation, systemic hypotensive effect was stronger in pranidipine than in nilvadipine, which suggested that nilvadipine can be used in patients with ocular circulatory insufficiency. A modification of the laser speckle apparatus used for animal experiments was devised so that the NB or SBR values could be measured in human eyes every 0.12 sec on a real-time basis. (ABSTRACT TRUN