The aging retina of wild‐type and mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

AbstractSeveral neurological diseases have been shown to have measurable correlates in the eye, thus further supporting the idea of the retina as a window to brain and neurodegeneration. Retinal imaging techniques, way less complex, more affordable and widely available than their counterparts for the brain, have the potential to provide alternatives to brain imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Also, animal models of disease are expected to allow the investigation of neurodegenerative diseases at states that would be inaccessible in a human patient, particularly at the onset of diseases that may occur decades before diagnosis. In this talk, we will present and discuss data and findings from wild‐type and triple‐transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease by optical coherence tomography (OCT) at the ages of 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, and 16 months old. In addition to commonplace retinal thickness measurements, texture analysis findings and findings from a neural network fed with OCT B‐scans and a neural network fed with OCT computed fundus images will be present and discussed.Funding: This study was funded by The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through PTDC/EMD‐EMD/28039/2017 and by FEDER‐COMPETE through POCI‐01‐0145‐FEDER‐028039.