Faculty Collaboration Database

Assessment of Outer Retinal Remodeling in the Hibernating 13-Lined Ground Squirrel. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2018 May 01;59(6):2538-2547

Date

05/31/2018

Pubmed ID

29847661

Pubmed Central ID

PMC5967598

DOI

10.1167/iovs.17-23120

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85047813453 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   22 Citations

Abstract

PURPOSE: We examined outer retinal remodeling of the euthermic and torpid cone-dominant 13-lined ground squirrel (13-LGS) retina using optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging and histology.

METHODS: Retinas and corneas of living 13-LGSs were imaged during euthermic and torpid physiological states using OCT. Retinal layer thickness was measured at the visual streak from registered and averaged vertical B-scans. Following OCT, some retinas were collected immediately for postmortem histologic comparison using light microscopy, immunofluorescence, or transmission electron microscopy.

RESULTS: Compared to OCT images from euthermic retinae, OCT images of torpid retinae revealed significantly thicker inner and outer nuclear layers, as well as increases in the distances between outer retinal reflectivity bands 1 and 2, and bands 3 and 4. A significant decrease in the distance between bands 2 and 3 also was seen, alongside significant thinning of the choriocapillaris and choroid. OCT image quality was reduced in torpid eyes, partly due to significant thickening of the corneal stroma during this state.

CONCLUSIONS: The torpid retina of the hibernating 13-LGS undergoes structural changes that can be detected by OCT imaging. Comparisons between in vivo OCT and ex vivo histomorphometry may offer insight to the origin of hyperreflective OCT bands within the outer retina of the cone-dominant 13-LGS.

Author List

Sajdak BS, Bell BA, Lewis TR, Luna G, Cornwell GS, Fisher SK, Merriman DK, Carroll J

Author

Joseph J. Carroll PhD Director, Professor in the Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Animals
Basal Metabolism
Cornea
Female
Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect
Hibernation
Male
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
Retina
Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells
Sciuridae
Tomography, Optical Coherence
Torpor