Dataset Information

Quantification of Retinal Ganglion Cell Morphology in Human Glaucomatous Eyes.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

To characterize retinal ganglion cell morphological changes in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma associated with hemifield defect (HD) using adaptive optics-optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT).

Methods

Six patients with early to moderate primary open-angle glaucoma with an average age of 58 years associated with HD and six age-matched healthy controls with an average age of 61 years were included. All participants underwent in vivo retinal ganglion cell (RGC) imaging at six primary locations across the macula with AO-OCT. Ganglion cell layer (GCL) somas were manually counted, and morphological parameters of GCL soma density, size, and symmetry were calculated. RGC cellular characteristics were correlated with functional visual field measurements.

Results

GCL soma density was 12,799 ± 7747 cells/mm2, 9370 ± 5572 cells/mm2, and 2134 ± 1494 cells/mm2 at 3°, 6°, and 12°, respectively, in glaucoma patients compared with 25,058 ± 4649 cells/mm2, 15,551 ± 2301 cells/mm2, and 3891 ± 1105 cells/mm2 (P < 0.05 for all locations) at the corresponding retinal locations in healthy participants. Mean soma diameter was significantly larger in glaucoma patients (14.20 ± 2.30 µm) compared with the health controls (12.32 ± 1.94 µm, P < 0.05 for all locations); symmetry was 0.36 ± 0.32 and 0.86 ± 0.13 in glaucoma and control cohorts, respectively.

Conclusions

Glaucoma patients had lower GCL soma density and symmetry, greater soma size, and increased variation of GCL soma reflectance compared with age-matched control subjects. The morphological changes corresponded with HD, and the cellular level structural loss correlated with visual function loss in glaucoma. AO-based morphological parameters could be potential sensitive biomarkers for glaucoma.

SUBMITTER: Liu Z

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7995922 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:To examine the hypotheses that in glaucomatous eyes with single-hemifield damage, retinal blood flow (RBF) is significantly reduced in the retinal hemisphere corresponding with the abnormal visual hemifield and that there are significant associations among reduced retinal sensitivity (RS) in the abnormal hemifield, RBF, and structural measurements in the corresponding hemisphere.Prospective, nonrandomized, case-control study.Thirty eyes of 30 patients with glaucoma with visual field loss confined to a single hemifield and 27 eyes of 27 controls.Normal and glaucomatous eyes underwent spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and standard automated perimetry. Doppler SD-OCT with a double-circle scanning pattern was used to measure RBF. The RBF was derived from the recorded Doppler frequency shift and the measured angle between the beam and the vessel. Total and hemispheric RBF, retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), and ganglion cell complex (GCC) values were calculated. The RS values were converted to 1/Lambert. Analysis of variance and regression analyses were performed.Total and hemispheric RS, RBF, RNFL, and GCC values.The total RBF (34.6±12.2 ?l/minute) and venous cross-sectional area (0.039 ± 0.009 mm(2)) were reduced (P<0.001) in those with glaucoma compared with controls (46.5 ± 10.6 ?l/minute; 0.052 ± 0.012 mm(2)). Mean RBF was reduced in the abnormal hemisphere compared with the opposite hemisphere (15.3 ± 5.4 vs. 19.3 ± 8.4 ?l/minute; P = 0.004). The RNFL and GCC were thinner in the corresponding abnormal hemisphere compared with the opposite hemisphere (87.0 ± 20.2 vs. 103.7 ± 20.6 ?m, P = 0.002; 77.6 ± 12.1 vs. 83.6 ± 10.1 ?m, P = 0.04). The RBF was correlated with RNFL (r = 0.41; P = 0.02) and GCC (r = 0.43; P = 0.02) but not the RS (r = 0.31; P = 0.09) in the abnormal hemisphere. The RBF (19.3 ± 8.4 ?l/minute), RNFL (103.7 ± 20.6 ?m), and GCC (83.6 ± 10.1 ?m) were reduced (P<0.05) in the hemisphere with apparently normal visual field in glaucomatous eyes compared with the mean hemispheric values of the normal eyes (23.2 ± 5.3 ?l/minute, 124.8 ± 9.6 ?m, and 96.1 ± 5.7 ?m, respectively).In glaucomatous eyes with single-hemifield damage, the RBF is significantly reduced in the hemisphere associated with the abnormal hemifield. Reduced RBF is associated with thinner RNFL and GCC in the corresponding abnormal hemisphere. Reduced RBF and RNFL and GCC loss also are observed in the perimetrically normal hemisphere of glaucomatous eyes.