Using Vascular Landmarks to Orient 3D Optical Coherence Tomography Images of the Mouse Eye

Comparing 3D structural information obtained by optical coherence tomography (OCT) requires accurate alignment of images acquired from individual subjects. Despite the widespread use of OCT to image the anterior and posterior mouse eye, few approaches to align the resulting image data have been described, in part due to a lack of well-characterized landmarks that are suitable for alignment. Here, we provide an OCT acquisition and analysis protocol that incorporates the use of the long posterior ciliary arteries as landmarks. In mammals, these two large choroidal vessels lie in a plane approximately parallel to the horizon. Our OCT imaging approach resolves these vessels in the mouse eye and suggests that their location is reproducible. The protocol may be useful for preparing 3D OCT data to compare experimental cohorts of mice and for standardizing results from independent research laboratories. © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.