Multispectral label-free in vivo cellular imaging of human retinal pigment epithelium using adaptive optics fluorescence lifetime ophthalmoscopy improves feasibility for low emission analysis and increases sensitivity for detecting changes with age and eccentricity.

ABSTRACT:

Significance

Adaptive optics fluorescence lifetime ophthalmoscopy (AOFLIO) provides a label-free approach to observe functional and molecular changes at cellular scale in vivo. Adding multispectral capabilities improves interpretation of lifetime fluctuations due to individual fluorophores in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE).

Aim

To quantify the cellular-scale changes in autofluorescence with age and eccentricity due to variations in lipofuscin, melanin, and melanolipofuscin in RPE using multispectral AOFLIO.

Approach

AOFLIO was performed on six subjects at seven eccentricities. Four imaging channels ( λex/λem ) were used: 473/SSC, 473/LSC, 532/LSC, and 765/NIR. Cells were segmented and the timing signals of each pixel in a cell were combined into a single

SUBMITTER: Kunala K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11221116 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature