Aberrant oxygen metabolism has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many retinal diseases, including diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity. There has been a lack of imaging technologies which can accurately quantify both oxygen saturation and blood flow in the living eye. To fill this technological gap, the Zhang lab recently developed visible-light optical coherence tomography (vis-OCT), which has the unique ability to quantify sO2 in the inner retinal vessels in vivo. Combining this advance with Doppler OCT technologies, we have successfully measured the metabolic rate of oxygen in vivo, which will enable longitudinal monitoring and characterization of retinal function in various retinal disorders.
