Bernstein P S, Yoshida M D, Katz N B, McClane R W, Gellermann W
Department of Ophthalmology, Moran Eye Center, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City 84132, USA.
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1998 Oct;39(11):2003-11.
To develop and test a novel noninvasive optical technique suitable for the objective measurement of macular carotenoid levels in human retina.
A resonance Raman scattering apparatus was constructed to measure carotenoid levels in flat-mounted human retinas and eyecups and in experimental animal eyes. Light from an argon laser was used to resonantly excite the electronic absorption of the carotenoid pigments, and scattered light was collected and analyzed by a Raman spectrometer. After carotenoid Raman measurements were completed on the retinal samples, macular carotenoid levels were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
Carotenoid resonance Raman scattering proved to be a highly sensitive and specific method for the noninvasive measurement of macular pigments in the human retina. Signal strength scaled linearly with actual macular carotenoid content as measured by HPLC. Our apparatus was also used to record resonance Raman signals from xanthophyll carotenoids stored in the retinal pigment epithelium of intact frog eyes.
This new noninvasive optical method will facilitate studies of ocular carotenoid distributions and their role in degenerative diseases of the eye and may allow for the rapid screening of carotenoid levels in large populations at risk for vision loss from age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly in the United States. A prototype clinical instrument is under development.
开发并测试一种新型非侵入性光学技术，该技术适用于客观测量人视网膜中的黄斑类胡萝卜素水平。
构建了一台共振拉曼散射仪，用于测量平铺的人视网膜和眼球杯以及实验动物眼中的类胡萝卜素水平。氩激光发出的光用于共振激发类胡萝卜素色素的电子吸收，散射光由拉曼光谱仪收集并分析。在对视网膜样本完成类胡萝卜素拉曼测量后，通过高效液相色谱法（HPLC）测定黄斑类胡萝卜素水平。
类胡萝卜素共振拉曼散射被证明是一种用于非侵入性测量人视网膜黄斑色素的高度灵敏且特异的方法。信号强度与通过HPLC测量的实际黄斑类胡萝卜素含量呈线性比例关系。我们的仪器还用于记录完整蛙眼中储存在视网膜色素上皮中的叶黄素类胡萝卜素的共振拉曼信号。
这种新的非侵入性光学方法将有助于研究眼部类胡萝卜素的分布及其在眼部退行性疾病中的作用，并可能允许对大量有年龄相关性黄斑变性致视力丧失风险的人群进行类胡萝卜素水平的快速筛查，年龄相关性黄斑变性是美国老年人失明的主要原因。一台临床原型仪器正在研发中。
