Multimodal retinal imaging by visible light optical coherence tomography and phosphorescence lifetime ophthalmoscopy in the mouse eye
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: ABSTRACT Significance Oxygen metabolism is important to retinal disease development, but current imaging methods face challenges in resolution, throughput, and depth sectioning to spatially map microvascular oxygen. Aim To develop a multimodal system capable of simultaneous phosphorescence lifetime imaging scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (PLIM-SLO) and visible light optical coherence tomography (VIS-OCT) to capture capillary-level oxygen partial pressure (pO 2 ) and structural volumes in rodents. Approach C57BL/6 mice were imaged by VIS-OCT with high-definition (10 kHz raster) and Doppler (100 kHz circular) protocols. Phosphorescent probe Oxyphor 2P was retro-orbitally injected to enable intravascular PLIM-SLO imaging (200 µs pixel dwell time), while a tunable lens was used to adjust the focal depth. The extracted phosphorescence lifetimes were used for pO 2 calculation. Simultaneous imaging utilized a shared imaging path and synchronized data collection. Results VIS-OCT images revealed detailed anatomy and Doppler shifts, while PLIM-SLO provided capillary pO 2 at multiple depths. A hemoglobin oxygen dissociation curve related retinal arterial pO 2 to systemic oxygen saturation as inhaled oxygen was varied. Registered simultaneous images were captured and pO 2 was empirically adjusted for the combined excitation. Conclusions Detailed anatomical structures and capillary pO 2 levels can be simultaneously imaged, providing a useful tool to study oxygen metabolism in rodent disease models.
Source: Neurophotonics
Institutions: Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania
Language: English
Subfield: Biomedical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,675
OpenAlex ID: W4414567184