Longitudinal optical coherence tomography angiography of hyaloid vessels in the developing mouse eye

Abstract

The hyaloid vascular system (HVS) is a transient capillary network nourishing developing eye. Currently, there is a lack of noninvasive imaging techniques for functional investigation of the HVS with high spatial and temporal resolutions. In this study, we demonstrated the feasibility of longitudinal optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) observation of the HVS regression in C57BL/6J mice. Longitudinal 3D OCT/OCTA measurements were conducted at 2- week, 3-week, and 4-week age by using a custom-designed OCT system. Three-dimensional OCT volume was acquired over 1.2 mm x 1.2 mm x 1.05 mm, containing a part of the lens tip, vitreous chamber, and the retina. Both OCT and OCTA successfully detected the hyaloid vessels, but OCTA benefits visualizing functional preservation of the blood vessels. OCTA images at 4-week age revealed functional loss of hyaloid vessels; while the OCT images still showed vascular remnants. We anticipate that longitudinal OCT/OCTA observation will be helpful to unravel the complex mechanism of the involution of the HVS correlated with eye development.