Journal: Communications Biology

Article Title: High-resolution structural and functional retinal imaging in the awake behaving mouse

doi: 10.1038/s42003-023-04896-x

Figure Lengend Snippet: a Head-restrained preparation for awake, behaving mouse retinal imaging. A surgical implanted Y-shape headplate on the mouse cranium restrains head motion, while ambulation is allowed on a rotational cylinder during imaging. b Schematic showing the position of the headplate on the center of the mouse cranium in parallel with the anterior-posterior axis. c A photograph of the head-restrained mouse imaged with commercial SLO. d Multimodal cSLO image of the retina in the head-restrained awake mice. Different retinal structures are visualized (Left - right): reflectance and autofluorescent imaging reveal major superficial retinal blood vessels and nerve fiber bundles under both NIR (top) and blue (bottom) channels. Fluorescent co-registration of NIR excited indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) of superficial blood vessel networks (rendered as red pseudo color) with blue excited fluorescence-labeled immune cells (rendered as green pseudo color) in a transgenic CX3CR1 mouse. ICGA of deep choroidal blood vessel network. e OCT cube and a representative b-scanned cross-section imaged in a head-restrained awake mouse. f AOSLO images show multimodal capabilities. Left: confocal reflectance image reveals nerve fiber bundle and retinal capillaries. Middle: phase-contrast imaging of a microcyst and a branch of retinal blood vessels. Right: fluorescence image of a YFP-labeled retinal ganglion cell with dendrites and axons highlighted.

Article Snippet: SLO and OCT imaging were performed with a commercial multimodal retinal imaging platform (HRA Spectralis, Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany).

Techniques: Imaging, Fluorescence, Labeling, Transgenic Assay