title: Retinal thickness measurement obtained with spectral domain optical coherence tomography assisted optical biopsy accurately correlates with ex vivo histology.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study determines 'correlation constants' between the gold standard histological measurement of retinal thickness and the newer spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) technology in adult C57BL/6 mice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-eight eyes from adult mice underwent SD-OCT imaging and then were histologically prepared for frozen sectioning with H&E staining. Retinal thickness was measured via 10x light microscopy. SD-OCT images and histological sections were standardized to three anatomical sites relative to the optic nerve head (ONH) location. The ratios between SD-OCT to histological thickness for total retinal thickness (TRT) and six sublayers were defined as 'correlation constants'.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean (± SE) TRT for SD-OCT and histological sections was 210.95 µm (± 1.09) and 219.58 µm (± 2.67), respectively. The mean 'correlation constant' for TRT between the SD-OCT and histological sections was 0.96. The retinal thickness for all sublayers measured by SD-OCT vs. histology were also similar, the 'correlation constant' values ranged from 0.70 to 1.17. All SD-OCT and histological measurements demonstrated highly significant (p<0.01) strong positive correlations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study establishes conversion factors for the translation of ex vivo data into in vivo information; thus enhancing the applicability of SD-OCT in translational research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, Florida, United States of America.
authors.forename: Lee R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, Florida, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grover
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America.
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Dominguez
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, Florida, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sankarathi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Balaiya
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, Florida, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kakarla V
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Chalam
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006652:Histological Techniques; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D012015:Reference Standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D000090324:Tumor Protein, Translationally-Controlled 1