Purpose: To acquire and characterize cellular-resolved in vivo fluorescence images of optogenetic probes expressed in rodent retinal ganglion cells, by adapting a low-cost and simple fundus system based on a topical endoscope.
Methods: A custom endoscope-based fundus system was constructed (adapted from the design of Paques and colleagues). Bright field and fluorescence images were acquired from head-fixed transgenic mice expressing Channelrhodopsin2-eYFP, and Sprague Dawley rats virally transfected with the optogenetic probe GCaMP3. Images were compared to in vitro images of the same structures and were analyzed.
Results: The fundus system provides high-quality, high-resolution fluorescence images of the eye fundus that span the whole retina. The images allow resolving individual cells and axon bundles in the Channelrhodopsin2-eYFP mice and cellular-scale structures in the GCaMP3 expressing rats. The resolution in mouse eyes was estimated to be better than 20 μm (full width at half maximum) and is only marginally dependent on movement-related blurring.
Conclusions: The fluorescence-endoscopy fundus system provides a powerful yet simple and widely accessible tool for obtaining cellular resolved fluorescent images of optogenetic and other fluorescent probes.
Translational Relevance: The new system could prove to be a basic tool for non-invasive in vivo small animal retinal imaging in a wide array of translational vision applications, including the tracking of fluorescently tagged cells and the expression of gene-therapy and optogenetic vectors.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1167/tvst.1.2.4 | DOI Listing |
Heart
January 2025
School of Optometry, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Objective: To investigate the associations between a comprehensive set of retinal vascular parameters and incident stroke to unveil new associations and explore its predictive power for stroke risk.
Methods: Retinal vascular parameters were extracted from the UK Biobank fundus images using the Retina-based Microvascular Health Assessment System. We used Cox regression analysis, adjusted for traditional risk factors, to examine the associations, with false discovery rate adjustment for multiple comparisons.
Biomed Phys Eng Express
January 2025
Department of Ophthalmology, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Carretera Ofra S/N, La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 38320, SPAIN.
This paper systematically evaluates saliency methods as explainability tools for convolutional neural networks trained to diagnose glaucoma using simplified eye fundus images that contain only disc and cup outlines. These simplified images, a methodological novelty, were used to relate features highlighted in the saliency maps to the geometrical clues that experts consider in glaucoma diagnosis. Despite their simplicity, these images retained sufficient information for accurate classification, with balanced accuracies ranging from 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiomedicines
November 2024
Department of Ophthalmology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 03080, Republic of Korea.
: We investigated the prevalence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and associated risk factors in Korean subjects who underwent comprehensive health screening examinations. : This single health screening center-based cross-sectional study included a total of 73,574 consecutive participants older than 30 years who underwent a health screening examination, including fundus photography, between October 2003 and December 2010. Weighted prevalence and risk factors for AMD were evaluated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Neuropathol Commun
January 2025
Ophthalmology, Novartis Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Neurodegeneration in glaucoma patients is clinically identified through longitudinal assessment of structure-function changes, including intraocular pressure, cup-to-disc ratios from fundus images, and optical coherence tomography imaging of the retinal nerve fiber layer. Use of human post-mortem ocular tissue for basic research is rising in the glaucoma field, yet there are challenges in assessing disease stage and severity, since tissue donations with informed consent are often unaccompanied by detailed pre-mortem clinical information. Further, the interpretation of disease severity based solely on anatomical and morphological assessments by histology can be affected by differences in death-to-preservation time and tissue processing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProg Neurobiol
January 2025
Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, Systems Neurodevelopment Laboratory, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA; Neurophysiology Imaging Facility, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address:
The macaque cerebral cortex contains concentrations of neurons that prefer faces over inanimate objects. Although these so-called face patches are thought to be specialized for the analysis of facial signals, their exact tuning properties remain unclear. For example, what happens when an object by chance resembles a face? Everyday objects can sometimes, through the accidental positioning of their internal components, appear as faces.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!