Optical microangiography of retina and choroid and measurement of total retinal blood flow in mice

We present a novel application of optical microangiography (OMAG) imaging technique forvisualization of depth-resolved vascular network within retina and choroid as well as measurement oftotal retinal blood flow in mice. A fast speed spectral domain OCT imaging system at 820nm with aline scan rate of 140 kHz was developed to image the posterior segment of eyes in mice. By applyingan OMAG algorithm to extract the moving blood flow signals out of the background tissue, we are ableto provide true capillary level imaging of the retinal and choroidal vasculature. The microvascularpatterns within different retinal layers are presented. An en face Doppler OCTapproach [Srinivasan et al., Opt Express 18, 2477 (2010)] was adopted for retinal bloodflow measurement. The flow is calculated by integrating the axial blood flow velocity over thevessel area measured in an en face plane without knowing the blood vessel angle.Total retinal blood flow can be measured from both retinal arteries and veins. The results indicatethat OMAG has the potential for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the microcirculation inposterior eye compartments in mouse models of retinopathy and neovascularization.OCIS codes: (170.4500) Optical coherence tomography, (170.3880) Medical and biological imaging