Department of Biology, University of Virginia.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University.
J Vis Exp. 2023 Jun 30(196). doi: 10.3791/65237.
In recent years, in vivo retinal imaging, which provides non-invasive, real-time, and longitudinal information about biological systems and processes, has been increasingly applied to obtain an objective assessment of neural damage in eye diseases. Ex vivo confocal imaging of the same retina is often necessary to validate the in vivo findings especially in animal research. In this study, we demonstrated a method for aligning an ex vivo confocal image of the mouse retina with its in vivo images. A new clinical-ready imaging technology called visible light optical coherence tomography fibergraphy (vis-OCTF) was applied to acquire in vivo images of the mouse retina. We then performed the confocal imaging of the same retina as the "gold standard" to validate the in vivo vis-OCTF images. This study not only enables further investigation of the molecular and cellular mechanisms but also establishes a foundation for a sensitive and objective evaluation of neural damage in vivo.
近年来，活体视网膜成像是一种非侵入性、实时和纵向的生物系统和过程信息获取方法，越来越多地应用于获得眼部疾病中神经损伤的客观评估。同样，对同一视网膜的离体共焦成像是验证活体发现的必要手段，特别是在动物研究中。在本研究中，我们展示了一种将离体共焦图像与活体图像进行配准的方法。一种新的临床准备成像技术称为可见光光学相干断层成像纤维镜术（vis-OCTF），用于获取活体小鼠视网膜图像。然后，我们对同一视网膜进行共焦成像作为“金标准”，以验证活体 vis-OCTF 图像。本研究不仅能够进一步研究分子和细胞机制，还为敏感和客观地评估体内神经损伤奠定了基础。
