Quantifying three-dimensional rodent retina vascular development using optical tissue clearing and light-sheet microscopy.

Retinal vasculature develops in a highly orchestrated three-dimensional (3-D) sequence. The stages of retinal vascularization are highly susceptible to oxygen perturbations. We demonstrate that optical tissue clearing of intact rat retinas and light-sheet microscopy provides rapid 3-D characterization of vascular complexity during retinal development.