Development of a label-free, functional, molecular and structural imaging system combining optical coherence tomography and Raman spectroscopy for in vivo measurement of rat retina

In vivo access to molecular information of retinal tissue is considered to play a critical role in enabling early diagnosis of ophthalmic and neurodegenerative diseases. The current gold standard of retina imaging, optical coherence tomography and angiography provides only the retinal morphology and blood perfusion, missing the full spectrum of molecular information. Raman spectroscopy addresses this gap while keeping the investigation non-invasive and label-free. Although previous studies have demonstrated the huge diagnostic potential of combining both modalities for in vivo biological tissue measurement, some have either employed unsafe optical power levels for in vivo retinal measurements or presented results that were negative or contradictory. In this study, we have developed an eye-safe multimodal in vivo label-free imaging system and demonstrate the potential of this device by investigating the retina of a living albino rat. The acquired Raman spectra showed relevant Raman bands in comparison with the previous ex vivo studies. Using this multimodal imaging system for non-invasive retina measurements of transgenic rodents holds the potential to advance the understanding of the pathophysiology of both ophthalmic and neurodegenerative diseases.