Elastographic OCT of anaesthesia effects on retinal motion patterns in C57BL/6 mice

OCT imaging studies in rodents usually rely on the use of anaesthesia to immobilise the animals. Using a polarisation sensitive optical coherence tomography system, we investigate the effects of isoflurane and MMFK on retinal tissue dynamics using an elastographic OCT analysis. Our preliminary data of 7 mice indicate a drop of the heart rate using MMFK and an increase in heart rate using isoflurane. We also found that the pulsatile tissue displacements tend to increase with an increasing heart rate. The pulsatility is therefore generally higher for Isoflurane compared to MMFK. The strong dependence of retinal motion patterns on anaesthesia indicates the importance of considering the impact of anaesthesia.