Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate the structural and functional characteristics of choroidal blood vessels in normal mice and disease models using an ultra-widefield indocyanine green angiography (UWF ICGA)
Methods :
We evaluated age-related changes of choroidal vascular system in C57BL/6 wild-type mice using UWF ICGA (Optos® California) and compared with Heidelberg Retina Angiograph (HRA). Choroidal vascular changes in Laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (LICNV) and oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) models were analyzed with UWF ICGA.
Results :
Serial UWF ICGA demonstrated that medium- and large-sized choroidal blood vessels are remodeled with aging. Compared to the HRA system, UWF ICGA enabled the better and wider visualization of the entire choroidal vascular structure. Choroidal hyperpermeability and vascular staining were observed in OIR models. UWF ICGA provided high enough resolution to visualize the serial quantifications of CNV accompanied by feeder vessel in LICNV.
Conclusions :
UWF ICGA provides excellent in vivo imaging of choroidal vascular networks in normal mice and disease models. Choroidal blood vessels continuously remodel during development, aging and disease progression. UWF ICGA will be a crucial imaging modality for studying the structure and function of choroidal blood vessels in experimental animals.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.