Purpose: The purpose of this study is to quantify the normal retinal thickness (RT) and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT), and to obtain cross-sectional area measurements of the main retinal artery and vein in the rabbit animal model using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).
Materials and methods: Fifteen eyes of 15 adult rabbits were used to obtain SD-OCT scans. RT, RNFLT and cross-sectional areas of the main retinal artery and vein were measured with a custom-made software grading tool (OCTOR) on selected B-scans at the edge of the optic nerve head and at 1, 2, 3 and 4 mm from the nerve. Statistical comparisons were made using the analysis of variance test with post hoc comparison.
Results: In the nasal and temporal retina, the average RT and RNFLT decreased significantly with eccentricity from the optic disc. There was a statistically significant greater RT and RNFLT at the edge of the optic disc as compared with values at 1, 2, 3 and 4 mm from the disc edge (p < 0.01). Mean cross-sectional area of the primary retinal vein was significantly larger than the retinal artery (p < 0.01).
Conclusions: We have quantified the cross-sectional dimensions of RT, RNFLT and the major retinal vessels in the rabbit retina with SD-OCT. These findings are novel anatomic features of the rabbit retina, which should be considered in any studies using this animal model.