Adaptive vessel tracing and segmentation in OCT enables the robust detection of wall-to-lumen ratio abnormalities in 5xFAD mice.

The wall-to-lumen ratio (WLR) of retinal blood vessels promises a sensitive marker for the physiological assessment of eye conditions. However, measurement of vessel wall thickness and lumen diameter is still technically challenging, hindering the wide application of WLR in research and clinical settings. In this study, we demonstrate the feasibility of using optical coherence tomography (OCT) as one practical method for quantification of WLR in the retina. Based on three-dimensional vessel tracing, lateral and axial B-scan profiles of individual vessels were constructed. By employing adaptive depth segmentation that adjusts to the individual positions of each blood vessel for OCT projection, the vessel wall thickness and lumen diameter could be reliably quantified. A comparative study of control and 5xFAD mice confirmed WLR as a sensitive marker of the eye condition.