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Updated: Jun 26, 2026
In vivo Structural Assessments of Ocular Disease in Rodent Models using Optical Coherence Tomography
Published on: July 24, 2020
Retinal structural and microvascular abnormalities in retinal dysplasia imaged by OCT and OCT angiography
Ana Ripolles-Garcia1, Dolores M Holle2, Julie A Cohen2
1Division of Experimental Retinal Therapies, Department of Clinical Sciences & Advanced Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Objective:
To describe the in vivo structural characteristics of multifocal and geographic retinal dysplasia visualized with advanced retinal imaging including confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (cSLO), optical coherence tomography (OCT), en face OCT, and the novel vascular imaging technique OCT angiography (OCTA).
Dogs Studied And Procedures:
Two dogs were diagnosed with unilateral multifocal or geographic retinal dysplasia and underwent advanced retinal imaging under general anesthesia at the Retinal Disease Studies Facility of the University of Pennsylvania.
Results:
In both cases, the morphological pattern of the lesions was similar including outer retinal folds that invaginated and formed tubular retinal rosettes, surrounding a central inner retinal thickening (multifocal) or plaque (geographic). The two dogs had multiple vascular anomalies in the lesions such as increased tortuosity, abnormal change of vessel diameter including aneurysms and capillary network disruption. We also identified increased autofluorescence by AF cSLO with short wavelength light source (488 nm and barrier filter at 500 nm), and several areas of photoreceptor loss associated with the lesions.
Conclusion:
The use of OCTA allowed the identification of microvascular abnormalities associated with multifocal and geographic retinal dysplasia in two dogs. To our knowledge, this is the first report where the dye-free OCTA technique is used to study vascular lesions in canine retinas.
