Ding Jie, Kim Tae-Hoon, Ma Guangying, Yao Xincheng
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.
Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2024 Jan 31;249:10024. doi: 10.3389/ebm.2024.10024. eCollection 2024.
This research aims to investigate the potential of using intrinsic optical signal (IOS) optoretinography (ORG) to objectively detect dark adaptation (DA) abnormalities related to rod photoreceptor degeneration. Functional optical coherence tomography (OCT) was employed in both wild-type (WT) and retinal degeneration 10 (rd10) mice to conduct this assessment. Dynamic OCT measurements captured the changes in retinal thickness and reflectance from light-to-dark transition. Comparative analysis revealed significant IOS alterations within the outer retina. Specifically, a reduction in thickness from external limiting membrane (ELM) peak to retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) peak was observed (WT: 1.13 ± 0.69 µm, 30 min DA; rd10: 2.64 ± 0.86 µm, 30 min DA), as well as a decrease in the intensity of the inner segment ellipsoid zone (EZ) in 30 min DA compared to light adaptation (LA). The reduction of relative EZ intensity was notable in rd10 after 5 min DA and in WT after 15 min DA, with a distinguishable difference between rd10 and WT after 10 min DA. Furthermore, our findings indicated a significant decrease in the relative intensity of the hypo-reflective band between EZ and RPE in rd10 retinas during DA, which primarily corresponds to the outer segment (OS) region. In conclusion, the observed DA-IOS abnormalities, including changes in ELM-RPE thickness, EZ, and OS intensity, hold promise as differentiators between WT and rd10 mice before noticeable morphological abnormalities occur. These findings suggest the potential of this non-invasive imaging technique for the early detection of dysfunction in retinal photoreceptors.
本研究旨在探讨利用内在光学信号（IOS）视网膜电图（ORG）客观检测与视杆光感受器退化相关的暗适应（DA）异常的潜力。在野生型（WT）和视网膜退化10（rd10）小鼠中均采用了功能性光学相干断层扫描（OCT）来进行此项评估。动态OCT测量捕捉了从明适应到暗适应过程中视网膜厚度和反射率的变化。对比分析显示，视网膜外层存在明显的IOS改变。具体而言，观察到从外限制膜（ELM）峰值到视网膜色素上皮（RPE）峰值的厚度减小（WT：1.13±0.69 µm，暗适应30分钟；rd10：2.64±0.86 µm，暗适应30分钟），并且与明适应（LA）相比，暗适应30分钟时内段椭圆体带（EZ）的强度降低。暗适应5分钟后rd10小鼠以及暗适应15分钟后WT小鼠的相对EZ强度降低显著，暗适应10分钟后rd10和WT之间存在明显差异。此外，我们的研究结果表明，在暗适应期间，rd10视网膜中EZ和RPE之间低反射带的相对强度显著降低，这主要对应于外段（OS）区域。总之，观察到的DA-IOS异常，包括ELM-RPE厚度、EZ和OS强度的变化，有望在明显的形态学异常出现之前区分WT和rd10小鼠。这些发现表明了这种非侵入性成像技术在早期检测视网膜光感受器功能障碍方面的潜力。
