Visualization of erythrocyte stasis in the living human eye in health and disease

Joanne Li; Dongyi Wang; Jessica Pottenburgh; Andrew J Bower; Samuel Asanad; Eric W Lai; Caroline Simon; Lily Im; Laryssa A Huryn; Yang Tao; Johnny Tam; Osamah J Saeedi

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.105755

Visualization of erythrocyte stasis in the living human eye in health and disease

iScience. 2022 Dec 7;26(1):105755. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105755. eCollection 2023 Jan 20.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
² Bioimaging and Machine Vision Laboratory, Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
³ Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁴ University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Abstract

Blood cells trapped in stasis have been reported within the microcirculation, but their relevance to health and disease has not been established. In this study, we introduce an in vivo imaging approach that reveals the presence of a previously-unknown pool of erythrocytes in stasis, located within capillary segments of the CNS, and present in 100% of subjects imaged. These results provide a key insight that blood cells pause as they travel through the choroidal microvasculature, a vascular structure that boasts the highest blood flow of any tissue in the body. Demonstration of clinical utility using deep learning reveals that erythrocyte stasis is altered in glaucoma, indicating the possibility of more widespread changes in choroidal microvascular than previously realized. The ability to monitor the choroidal microvasculature at the single cell level may lead to novel strategies for tracking microvascular health in glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Keywords: Health sciences; Ocular aberrometry; Optometry.

Grants and funding

R01 EY031731/EY/NEI NIH HHS/United States