Slow Cone Reflectance Changes during Bleaching Determined by Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope in Living Human Eyes

PLoS One. 2015 Jun 29;10(6):e0131485. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131485. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

To investigate the changes in the reflectance of human cone photoreceptors by an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AO-SLO) during photobleaching. A custom-built AO-SLO with an observation light of 840-nm was used to measure the cone densities and the reflectance changes during bleaching by 630 nm red light emitting diodes. Measurements were made at 1° and 3° temporal to the fovea within an area of 1° × 1° in 8 eyes of 8 normal subjects. After dark-adaptation, images of the cone mosaics were recorded continuously for 5-min before, 5-min during, and after 5-min of light stimulation with a sampling rate of 5-Hz. The first positive peak (P1) was observed at 72.2 ± 15.0-s and a second positive peak (P2) at 257.5 ± 34.5-s at 1°. The increase of the reflectance of P1 was significantly larger at 1° (34.4 ± 13.9%) than at 3° (26.0 ± 10.5%; P = 0.03, Wilcoxon's signed rank test). The average cone density at 1° (51123.13 ± 1401.23 cells/mm2) was significantly larger than that at 3° (30876.13 ± 1459.28 cells/mm2; P <0.001, Wilcoxon's signed rank test). The changes in the reflectance of the cones during bleaching by red light had two peaks. The two peaks may be caused by regeneration of cone photopigment during bleaching.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Ocular / radiation effects*
  • Adult
  • Fovea Centralis
  • Humans
  • Lasers*
  • Ophthalmoscopes*
  • Optics and Photonics / instrumentation*
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Photobleaching*
  • Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells / physiology*
  • Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells / radiation effects*
  • Time Factors
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work was supported by KAKNHI (25293354) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Japan; Health Labour Sciences Research Grant (H24 medical devise 004) from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare Japan; Translational Research Network Program from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan; and Asian CORE Program from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Topcon Corporation provided support in the form of salaries for SM. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.