Optophysiological characterisation of retinal ganglion cell function by ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomograph

使用基于激光的技术的视网膜成像现在在评估青光眼、视神经病变、糖尿病视网膜病变和黄斑变性等眼病方面发挥着关键作用，这些疾病在英国仍然是导致视力丧失和失明的重要原因。仍然迫切需要提高视网膜成像的分辨率，因为这将有助于早期疾病诊断，并提高监测视网膜疾病的准确性。在已开发的各种成像方式中，光学相干层析成像(OCT)在细胞分辨率下对视网膜的结构和功能进行成像的潜力最大。由于及早发现可以及早治疗，成像技术的发展应该转化为改进治疗和预防视力丧失。最近，我们已经证明了通过基于OCT的技术来检测视网膜小区域的活动是可能的，但我们不知道这是否可以用来确定组成视网膜的细胞的功能完整性。在这项研究中，我们将探索功能性超高分辨率Fuhr-OCT在功能上表征活的(活体)视网膜中单个视网膜神经节细胞的特性的能力。这些是连接眼睛和大脑的细胞；如果我们能确定它们的生理特性，我们就有可能开发出新的设备，在视网膜疾病的最早阶段进行检测。同样重要的是，我们能够确定治疗对视网膜功能的影响-这将使我们能够缩短评估保存视网膜神经节细胞功能(神经保护)的新疗法所需的时间。如果成功，我们预计这项研究中开发的技术也将适用于确定其他视网膜层的功能特征，从而在评估患有黄斑变性和视网膜色素上皮遗传性疾病(如视网膜色素变性)的患者方面发挥重要作用。

Retinal imaging using laser based techniques now plays a key role in the assessment of eye diseases such as glaucoma, optic neuropathy, diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration that remain important causes of vision loss and blindness in the UK. There is still a pressing need to increase the resolution with which the retina is imaged since this will facilitate early disease diagnosis and improve the accuracy with which retinal disease can be monitored. Among the various imaging modalities that have been developed, optical coherence tomography (OCT) has the greatest potential to image structure and function of the retina at cellular resolutions. Since early detection allows for early treatment, developments in imaging techniques should translate into improved treatment and the prevention of vision loss. Recently, we have shown that it is possible to detect activity of small regions of the retina by OCT based techniques but we do not know whether this can be used to determine the functional integrity of the cells that comprise the retina. In this study we will explore the ability of functional ultrahigh resolution fUHR-OCT to characterize, functionally, the properties of single retinal ganglion cells in the living (in vivo) retina. These are the cells that connect the eye to the brain; if we can determine their physiological properties, we have the potential to develop novel devices for the detection of retinal disease in its earliest stage. Just as important will be our ability to determine the effects of treatment on retinal function- this will allow us to shorten time needed to evaluate novel treatment for preservation of retinal ganglion cell function (neuroprotection). If successful, we envisage that the techniques developed in this study will also be suited to determine the functional characteristics of other retinal layers and therefore play an important role in the assessment of patients with diseases such as macular degeneration and genetic disorders of the retinal pigment epithelium (e.g. retinitis pigmentosa).