Measuring Retinal Vessel Diameter from Mouse Fluorescent Angiography Images

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Genetics
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Retinal vasculature development is crucial in retinopathies, where abnormal vessel growth leads to vision loss.
• Mutations in the microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (Mitf) gene cause ocular abnormalities including retinal degeneration and blindness.
• Noninvasive in vivo imaging of the mouse retina is vital for eye research but challenging due to the small size of mouse eyes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a unique, automated software for analyzing retinal vessel diameter in mice.
• To provide researchers with a practical and reliable tool for quantitative assessment of mouse retinal vasculature.

Main Methods:

• Fundus photographs were acquired from wild-type and Mitf-mutant mice after fluorescein injection.
• A custom MATLAB program was developed to automatically enhance image contrast and extract mean vascular diameter.
• The software analyzes vascular diameter at a specific distance from the optic disk.

Main Results:

• The developed MATLAB software successfully automates the analysis of retinal vessel diameter in mouse fundus images.
• The program enables reliable measurement of mean vascular diameter, mean total diameter, and vessel count.
• Vascular changes were quantitatively examined in mice with Mitf gene mutations.

Conclusions:

• The custom-written MATLAB software offers a practical, user-friendly solution for analyzing mouse retinal vasculature.
• This tool facilitates the study of retinal vascular development and changes in genetic models of eye disease.
• The software enhances the reliability and convenience of quantitative retinal vessel analysis in eye research.