Label free measurement of retinal blood cell flux,velocity, hematocrit and capillary width in the living mouse eye |
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| Authors: | A Guevara-Torres A Joseph J B Schallek |
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| Institution: | 1Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA;2The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14620, USA;3Flaum Eye Institute, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14642, USA;4Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14642, USA |
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| Abstract: | Measuring blood cell dynamics within the capillaries of the living eye provides crucial information regarding the health of the microvascular network. To date, the study of single blood cell movement in this network has been obscured by optical aberrations, hindered by weak optical contrast, and often required injection of exogenous fluorescent dyes to perform measurements. Here we present a new strategy to non-invasively image single blood cells in the living mouse eye without contrast agents. Eye aberrations were corrected with an adaptive optics camera coupled with a fast, 15 kHz scanned beam orthogonal to a capillary of interest. Blood cells were imaged as they flowed past a near infrared imaging beam to which the eye is relatively insensitive. Optical contrast of cells was optimized using differential scatter of blood cells in the split-detector imaging configuration. Combined, these strategies provide label-free, non-invasive imaging of blood cells in the retina as they travel in single file in capillaries, enabling determination of cell flux, morphology, class, velocity, and rheology at the single cell level.OCIS codes: (170.4460) Ophthalmic optics and devices, (330.4300) Vision system - noninvasive assessment, (110.1080) Active or adaptive optics, (330.7324) Visual optics, comparative animal models |
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