Researchers from Indiana University’s School of Optometry and the University of California, Davis Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science have captured in images for the first time in a living human eye "disc shedding" — the daily disposal and regeneration of the end tips of photoreceptor cells.
To capture the image, the researchers reportedly developed a novel imaging method that detects disposal at the level of individual photoreceptor cells. The method combined two imaging technologies — adaptive optics and optical coherence tomography (OCT) — that allowed them to capture individual retina cells in three dimensions of length, width and depth.
The researchers believe this look into the inner workings of the eye will help scientists better understand, prevent and manage major eye diseases that affect photoreceptors like age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.
The findings were recently published in the journal Biomedical Optics Express from The Optical Society.
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Source: The Optical Society