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Updated: Jan 16, 2026
Multimodal Volumetric Retinal Imaging by Oblique Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy oSLO and Optical Coherence Tomography OCT
Published on: August 4, 2018
Morphologic and functional assessment of photoreceptors in anisometropic amblyopia using adaptive optics scanning
Hang Yang1, Maoxia Lv1, Jie Peng1
1Department of Ophthalmology, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610072, China.
Objective:
Using adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AO-SLO) to investigate the cone photoreceptor structure in children with anisometropic amblyopia and to examine its correlation with contrast sensitivity function (CSF).
Methods:
Fifteen patients with monocular anisometropic amblyopia (amblyopic eyes, AE; fellow eyes, FE) and 15 age-matched controls (normal eyes, NE) were enrolled (45 eyes). Data on macular cone photoreceptor density, spacing, and regularity; retinal and choroidal thickness; superficial capillary plexus vessel density (SCP-VD); choroidal vascularity index (CVI); and contrast sensitivity function (CSF) were collected. Statistical analyses were performed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation, and multivariate linear regression.
Results:
Compared to the FE and NE groups, the AE group showed significantly reduced cone density (28,519.12 ± 2853.41 vs. 35,529.21 ± 2217.35 and 36,181.62 ± 3081.95 cells/mm², P < 0.01), increased spacing (6.36 ± 1.64 vs. 4.22 ± 0.41 vs. 4.13 ± 0.50 μm, P < 0.01), and decreased regularity (92.99 ± 1.49 % vs. 95.86 ± 1.20 % vs. 95.90 ± 1.03 %; P < 0.01). The Area Under the Log Contrast Sensitivity Function (AULCSF) of the AE group (1.61 ± 0.08) was significantly lower than that of the FE (1.84 ± 0.04) and NE groups (1.87 ± 0.08; P < 0.01). CSF was positively correlated with cone density (R² = 0.899, P < 0.001) and regularity (R² = 0.530, P = 0.002) and negatively correlated with cone spacing (R² = 0.539, P = 0.002). Multivariate regression analysis revealed that cone density (β = 0.701, P < 0.001) and cone regularity (β = 0.228, P = 0.026) had a positive predictive effect on AULCSF.
Conclusion:
Anisometropic amblyopia shows disrupted macular cone structure, including reduced density and irregular spacing, which closely relates to impaired contrast sensitivity. AO-SLO can help assess these retinal deficits in developmental visual disorders.
