An adaptive optics biomicroscope for mouse retinal imaging

In studying retinal disease on a microscopic level, in vivo imaging has allowed researchers to track disease progression in a single animal over time without sacrificing large numbers of animals for statistical studies. Historically, a drawback of in vivo retinal imaging, when compared to ex vivo imaging, is decreased image resolution due to aberrations present in the mouse eye. Adaptive optics has successfully corrected phase aberrations introduced the eye in ophthalmic imaging in humans. We are using adaptive optics to correct for aberrations introduced by the mouse eye in hopes of achieving cellular resolution retinal images of mice in vivo. In addition to using a wavefront sensor to drive the adaptive optic element, we explore the using image data to correct for wavefront aberrations introduced by the mouse eye. Image data, in the form of the confocal detection pinhole intensity are used as the feedback mechanism to control the MEMS deformable mirror in the adaptive optics system. Correction for wavefront sensing and sensor-less adaptive optics systems are presented