Monitoring mouse retinal degeneration with high-resolution spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.
Progression of retinal degeneration in a mouse model was studied in vivo with high-resolution spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Imaging in 3D with high depth resolution (<3 mum), SD-OCT resolved all the major layers of the retina of control C57BL/6J mice. Images of transgenic mice having a null mutation of the rhodopsin gene revealed the anatomical consequences of retinal degeneration: thinning of the outer retina, including the outer plexiform layer (OPL), outer nuclear layer (ONL), and inner and outer segments (IS/OS). We monitored the progression of retinal degeneration in rd1 mice (C3H/HeJ) by periodically imaging the same mice from the time the pups opened their eyes on P13 to P34. SD-OCT images showed that the outer retina (OPL, ONL, IS/OS) had already thinned by 73% (100 to 27 mum) at eye opening. The retina continued to degenerate, and by P20 the outer retina was not resolvable. The thickness of entire retina decreased from 228 mum (control) to 152 mum on P13 and to 98 mum by P34, a 57% reduction with the complete loss in the outer retina. In summary, we show that SD-OCT can monitor the progression of retinal degeneration in transgenic mice.
Kim
Ki Hean
KH
Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Puoris'haag
Mehron
M
Maguluri
Gopi N
GN
Umino
Yumiko
Y
Cusato
Karen
K
Barlow
Robert B
RB
de Boer
Johannes F
JF
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D012160:Retina / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D012162:Retinal Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012243:Rhodopsin / Q000032:analysis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*
D012243:Rhodopsin