Multimodal scanning confocal light microscopy (SCLM) with optical coherence microscopy (OCM) for ex vivo mouse retinal tissue imaging

The combined Multimodal Scanning Confocal Light Microscopy (SCLM) with Optical Coherence Microscopy (OCM) system has been developed for ex vivo mouse retina tissue imaging. This instrument utilizes a commercial microscope and our previously reported multimodal SLO-OCT acquisition engine, allowing simultaneous detection of backscattered light from the SCLM illumination beam, fluorescent emission, and depth information about different retinal layers using OCM. Identical data formats of in vivo and ex vivo measurements facilitate better data analysis from the same animals. This allows better structural and potentially temporal co-registration when studying functional retinal responses. The improved spatial resolution of the SCLM/OCM system helps interpret in vivo results. The interchangeable objectives of the microscope allow control of the spatial resolution, while our custom data acquisition software controls the size of the field of view. In this presentation, we will review the design details of the combined SCLM/OCM system, showcase its performance, and compare retinal morphology acquired in vivo and ex vivo from the retina of the same animal.