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In vivo Structural Assessments of Ocular Disease in Rodent Models using Optical Coherence Tomography
Published on: July 24, 2020
Application of second harmonic imaging microscopy to assess structural changes in optic nerve head structure ex vivo
Donald J Brown1, Naoyuki Morishige, Aneesh Neekhra
1University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, The Eye Institute, Orange, California 92868, USA. dbrown@uci.edu
Journal of Biomedical Optics
|May 5, 2007
Summary
Glaucoma causes vision loss by damaging retinal ganglion cells. Increased eye pressure deforms optic nerve head structures, compressing vital nerve bundles.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Biomedical Engineering
- Cell Biology
Background:
- Glaucoma is a leading cause of global blindness.
- Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death, linked to intraocular pressure (IOP), causes vision loss.
- RGC axon injury at the optic nerve head (ONH) is a key pathologic feature.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy for imaging the lamina cribrosa.
- To investigate the hypothesis that elevated IOP causes ONH structural changes.
Main Methods:
- Utilized multiphoton microscopy with femtosecond lasers to generate SH signals from collagen.
- Applied SHG microscopy to visualize the lamina cribrosa in the ONH.
- Tested the effect of increased IOP on ONH collagen beam movement and channel distortion.
Main Results:
- SHG microscopy enables direct optical imaging of the lamina cribrosa.
- Elevated IOP induced movement of ONH collagen beams.
- Lamina cribrosa channels became distorted, leading to axon bundle compression.
Conclusions:
- SHG microscopy is a valuable tool for studying ONH biomechanics.
- Increased IOP causes structural deformation in the lamina cribrosa.
- ONH structural changes under elevated IOP may contribute to RGC axon injury and vision loss.
