Confocal Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy (cSLO), Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Scanning Laser Polarimerty (SLP) imaging techniques have greatly increased our ability to monitor retinal diseases, providing objective and structural measures. However, their role in evaluation of experimental models is not fully established, nor their application in identifying early changes. This thesis aims to provide new insights into the use of these objective retinal imaging techniques in the assessment of both human and experimental retinal diseases. cSLO, OCT, and SLP were used in clinical and animal studies to assess structural retinal modifications and Retinal Ganglion Cells apoptosis. Two groups of patients were assessed: Acute Primary Angle Closure (APAC) and those referred as glaucoma suspects (GS). Five retinal disease models were also evaluated: a rat model of ocular hypertension (OHT), a rotenone rat and transgenic model of Parkinson’s disease (PD), and transgenic models of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) and Alzheimer Disease (AD). Progressive SLO and SLP changes with partial agreement between the two techniques were documented following APAC. Similarly, HRT and OCT showed some agreement in a cross-sectional study of GS patients, especially with respect to Posterior Pole analysis. All experimental models showed RGC apoptosis and retinal structural modifications, including retinal layer thickness, with significant changes recorded over time. These novel DARC (Detection of Apoptosing Retinal Cells) and OCT findings suggest that RGC apoptosis and retinal structural alterations could be an early marker of PD, AD and RP, and a possible endpoint for neuroprotective strategies to prevent cell loss in human retinal and neurodegenerative diseases. This is exemplified by the studies reported here, evaluating rosiglitazone treatment in PD-rat models. In conclusion, the studies performed in this thesis, highlight the usefulness of state-of-the-art retinal imaging technology to assess and monitor glaucoma patients. Furthermore, these same technologies are effective in the in vivo assessment of experimental models of neurodegenerative diseases, providing new and real-time objective outcome measures, which can be readily translated to the clinic.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:631931 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Normando, E. |
| Publisher | University College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1435408/ |
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