Speaker
Description
The retina is a highly metabolically active neural tissue in which the neuronal and vascular components work together to meet the high metabolic demands through a phenomenon known as neurovascular coupling. Neurodegenerative diseases such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa have been linked with disruption of this phenomenon. Understanding these alterations at a cellular level requires imaging tools capable of resolving both structure and function in vivo.
Over the past few decades, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) has transformed retinal imaging by enabling non-invasive, depth-resolved imaging of the retina. Early applications focused on structural characterization of retinal layers and quantitative assessment of pathological changes in retinal neurodegenerative diseases. These advances established OCT as an indispensable clinical and research tool.
Building on this structural foundation, more recent developments have extended OCT beyond morphology toward functional imaging. Doppler OCT enabled quantitative assessment of retinal blood flow and provided new insights into vascular regulation. More recently, optoretinography (ORG) has emerged as a powerful approach for detecting stimulus-evoked intrinsic optical signals associated with neuronal activation, allowing direct, non-invasive measurement of retinal function in vivo.
This talk will trace the progression of retinal imaging from structural characterization to the investigation of retinal dynamics, highlighting advances in OCT-based techniques that bridge morphology, vascular physiology, and neuronal activity. Particular emphasis will be placed on recent work examining stimulus-evoked retinal blood flow changes and their relationship to neurovascular coupling, demonstrating how modern OCT approaches can probe functional hyperemia in the living human retina.
Together, these advances illustrate the continuing evolution of OCT from structural imaging to a powerful platform for probing retinal physiology in vivo.
| Keyword-1 | Optical Coherence Tomography |
|---|---|
| Keyword-2 | Retina |
| Keyword-3 | Eye Imaging |