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Updated: May 9, 2026
Quantitative Fundus Autofluorescence for the Evaluation of Retinal Diseases
Published on: March 11, 2016
In vivo detection of hESC-RPE cells via confocal near-infrared fundus reflectance
Ramiro M Ribeiro1, Aldo Oregon, Bruno Diniz
1Doheny Eye Institute, 1355 San Pablo Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. rribeiro@doheny.org
Background And Objective:
To investigate whether the confocal near-infrared reflectance (NIR) imaging modality could detect the in vivo presence of retinal pigment epithelium cells derived from embryonic human stem cells (hESC-RPE) implanted into the subretinal space of the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rat.
Materials And Methods:
Monthly NIR images were obtained from RCS rats implanted with either hESC-RPE seeded on a parylene membrane (n = 14) or parylene membrane without cells (n = 14). Two independent, masked investigators graded the images. Histology and immunohistochemistry were performed at different time points (150, 210, and 270 postnatal days of age).
Results:
NIR images revealed that an average of 20.53% of the parylene membrane area was covered by hESC-RPE. RPE-65 and TRA-1-85 confirmed the presence of human-specific RPE cells in those animals. No areas corresponding to cells were found in the group implanted with membrane only. Intergrader agreement was high (r = 0.89-0.92).
Conclusion:
The NIR mode was suitable to detect the presence of hESC-RPE seeded on a membrane and implanted into the subretinal space of the RCS rat.
