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PURPOSE:Mutations of the gene encoding RPE65 cause Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) retinitis pigmentosa (RP). The optical coherence tomography (OCT) is increasingly utilized to noninvasively evaluate various types of retinal diseases, including RP. The present study was conducted to characterize the OCT findings of the RPE65-/- mice-an animal model of LCA and RP-in relation to the morphological features based on histological and electron microscopic findings as well as electroretinography (ERG) features. MATERIALS AND METHODS:RPE65-/- mice were employed as a model of retinal degeneration. C57BL/6J mice were used as a wild-type control. OCT was performed on the RPE65-/- mice from postnatal day (P) 22 to 170. The longitudinal changes in the OCT images and fundus pictures were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively in comparison to those of C57BL/6J mice. The OCT images were also compared to the histological and electron microscopic findings. Full field combined rod and cone ERG was performed to analyze the relationship between morphology based on OCT and the amplitudes of the a- and b-waves. RESULTS:In the RPE65-/- mice, the photoreceptor rod and cone layer appeared as a diffuse hyperreflective zone contiguous with the inner segment ellipsoid zone (IS-EZ) on OCT, even on P22, whereas the IS-EZ and interdigitation zone were clearly identified in the age-matched C57BL/6J mice. The histological analyses revealed that the regular arrangement of the photoreceptor inner and outer segments was gradually lost in the RPE65-/- mice. On electron microscopy, most of the rod outer segments were degenerated from P21 to P35, whereas outer segments became variably shorter after P49 although ultrastructure appeared to normalize. The thickness of the outer nuclear layer of RPE65-/- mice was slowly and progressively reduced in comparison to C57BL/6J mice. Although the thickness of the inner and outer segment layer of RPE65-/- mice was significantly decreased in comparison to C57BL/6J mice, the change was not progressive, at least until P170. Even at P35, the amplitudes of both a- and b-waves on ERG were severely deteriorated in comparison to those of C57BL/6J mice. Mottled depigmented spots appeared throughout the fundus in RPE65-/- mice after P72, and were detected as hyperreflective deposits under the retinal pigment epithelium on OCT. DISCUSSION:The pathological changes in the inner and outer segments layer of RPE65-/- mice were identified as diffuse hyperreflective changes on OCT. The rod outer segments showed degeneration in the early postnatal periods but became morphologically normalized in the disc structure after P49, although the sizes of the length of the rod outer segments were variable. OCT could not qualitatively differentiate the early degeneration of rods from the late variability in size of rods. Although the morphology of the photoreceptor outer segments was relatively preserved in the RPE65-/- mice, the amplitudes of ERG were severely disturbed. These structural and functional deficits may be derived from the defective supply of 11-cis-retinol to the photoreceptors.

To characterize the optical coherence tomography (OCT) appearances of photoreceptor degeneration in the rhodopsin P23H transgenic rat (line 2) in relation to the histological, ultrastructural, and electroretinography (ERG) findings.Homozygous rhodopsin P23H transgenic albino rats (line 2, very-slow degeneration model) were employed. Using OCT (Micron IV®; Phoenix Research Labs, Pleasanton, CA, USA), the natural course of photoreceptor degeneration was recorded from postnatal day (P) 15 to P 287. The OCT images were qualitatively observed by comparing them to histological and ultrastructural findings at P 62 and P 169. In addition, each retinal layer was quantitatively analyzed longitudinally during degeneration, compared it to that observed in wild type Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The relationships between the ERG (full-field combined rod-cone response, 3.0 cds/m2 stimulation) findings and OCT images were also analyzed.In the qualitative study, the two layers presumably corresponding to the photoreceptor inner segment ellipsoid zone (EZ) and interdigitation zone (IZ) were identified in the P23H rat until PN day 32. However, the photoreceptor inner and outer segment (IS/OS) layer became diffusely hyperreflective on OCT after P 46, and the EZ and IZ zones could no longer be identified on OCT. In contrast, in the SD rats, the EZ and IZ were clearly distinguished until at least P 247. The ultrastructural study showed partial disarrangements of the photoreceptor outer segment discs in the P23H rats at P 62, although a light-microscopic histological study detected almost no abnormality in the outer segment. In the quantitative study, the outer retinal layer including the outer plexiform layer (OPL) and the outer nuclear layer (ONL) became significantly thinner in the P23H rats than in the SD rats after P 71. The thickness of the IS/OS layer was maintained in the P23H rats until P 130, and it became statistically thinner than in the SD rats at P 237. The longitudinal attenuation in the amplitude of the a- and b-waves of ERG was significantly correlated with the thickness of the combined OPL and ONL but not with that of the IS/OS layer.OCT showed the degenerated photoreceptor IS/OS layer in rhodopsin P23H transgenic rats (line 2) as a diffuse hyperreflective zone, even in the early stage, with the partially disarranged and destabilized OS discs recognizable by ultrastructural assessment but not by a histological study. The amplitude of the a- and b-waves mainly depends on the thickness of the OPL and ONL layer rather than the thickness of the photoreceptor IS/OS layer in P23H rats.