In an exertion drove by UW Medicine, scientists have effectively adjusted the standard optical codons tomography (OCT) cycle to recognize fine changes in the reaction to light in individual photovoltaics in a living eye.
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The results were published Sept. 9 in Science Advances.
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"We have now accelerated the vision recovery life cycle," said lead author Vimal Prabhu Pandyan, an ophthalmology researcher at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
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The study was funded in part by the National Eye Institute's Bold Objectives initiative, which takes bold ideas in helping people see better.
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The OCT modifications described in the study will help researchers who want to test therapies such as stem cells or gene therapy to treat retinal diseases. They now have the tools to enlarge the retina to assess whether or not the treatment is working.
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"Because the photoreceptors are the primary cells affected in the formation of the retina and the target cells for many treatments, the non-invasive visualization of their physiology with high accuracy is invaluable," the researchers write.
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Conical photoreceptors are the building blocks of vision, as they capture light and direct information to other retinal neurons. It is a major component of how we process images and patterns of light incident on the retina.
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Optical coherence tomography has been around since the 1990s. In this study, researchers used OCT with adaptive optics, streak scanning, and phase resolution acquisition to present the concept of Thomas Young's intervention in the human eye. (Check Out Eye Add) With the ability to enlarge the retina at high speeds, they found that the cone photoreceptors are distorted at the nanometer scale when they first capture light and initiate the vision process.
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As Sabian explained, “You can imagine an image that looks normal visually and structurally. But when we investigate the inner workings of the retina on a cellular scale, we may discover a dysfunction sooner than other methods can do. Then a doctor can prescribe a drug for early intervention or follow-up. Time course to fix it by gene therapy or stem cell therapy in the future.
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"We'll now have a way to see if these treatments are working the way they should," said Sabisan.