Retinal imaging may prevent vision loss

Scientists have developed a new non-invasive retinal imaging technique that can 

help prevent the onset of vision loss in diseases like glaucoma.

The group, led by David Williams from the University of Rochester, was able to 

distinguish individual retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) that bear most of the responsibility 

of relaying visual information to the brain. No one has successfully captured images 

of individual RGCs because they are perfectly transparent.

Glaucoma is currently diagnosed by assessing the thickness of the nerve fibres 

projecting from the RGCs to the brain. However, by the ti me retinal nerve fibre 

thickness changes, a patient may have lost 1,00,000 RGCs.

Ethan A Rossi, professor at University of Pittsburgh, and his colleagues were 

able to see RGCs by modifying an existing technology -confocal adaptive optics 

scanning light ophthalmoscopy . They collected multiple images, varying the size and 

location of the detector they used to gather light scattered out of the retina for each image 

and then combined those images in a technique called multioffset detection. Not only did 

the technique allow the group to visualise individual RGCs, but structures within the 

cells, like nuclei, could also be distinguished in animals

Source: The Times of India