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Quantitation of microcomputed tomography-imaged ocular microvasculature
Robert C Atwood1, Peter D Lee, Moritz A Konerding
1Department of Materials, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Microcirculation (New York, N.Y. : 1994)
|February 10, 2010
Summary
This study introduces a new 3D imaging method to analyze mouse eye vasculature. Over-expressing vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in neonatal mice significantly increased blood vessel growth and volume in the eye.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Vascular Biology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Accurate quantification of microvascular dimensions is crucial for understanding ocular development and disease.
- Traditional methods like histology and stereology have limitations in fully characterizing complex 3D vascular networks.
- Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a critical role in angiogenesis, particularly during development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and apply a novel combination of techniques for quantitative, three-dimensional (3D) assessment of microvascular dimensions in neonatal mouse eyes.
- To compare the intra-ocular vasculature of wild-type mice with those over-expressing a labile isoform of VEGF (VEGF(120)) in the lens.
Main Methods:
- Developed a novel technique combining vascular corrosion casting and X-ray microcomputed tomography (muCT) for 3D imaging of the hyaloid vasculature.
- Utilized in-house computer-aided image analysis for quantitative morphological analysis of the reconstructed vascular networks.
- Applied this methodology to neonatal wild-type mice and transgenic mice over-expressing VEGF(120) from the developing lens.
Main Results:
- The novel 3D imaging and analysis method successfully quantified microvascular differences.
- VEGF(120)-overexpressing mice exhibited a 10-fold increase in blind-ended vessels and a six-fold increase in connected vessel segments compared to wild-type.
- Total vitreous vessel volume was sixfold greater in VEGF(120)-overexpressing mice (0.0314 mm(3)) versus wild-type (0.0051 mm(3)).
Conclusions:
- The described combination of techniques provides the first 3D quantitative characterization of intra-ocular vasculature in neonatal mice.
- This methodology enables detailed analysis of vascular morphology, revealing significant increases in vessel complexity and volume due to VEGF over-expression.
- The approach overcomes limitations of traditional histological, ultrastructural, and stereological analyses for 3D vascular quantification.
