Progress on the Development of Zebrafish Optoretinography System to Observe Light-evoked Response of Retina

초록

Optoretinography, an analysis of light-evoked morphological change of retinal structures based on optical coherence tomography image sequences, can provide insight into the underlying processes of the phototransduction activation cascade. Here, we report the development of a zebrafish OCT system for investigating ORG signals of functional restoration during zebrafish's retina regeneration process. Zebrafish are a rare species that can regenerate their retina spontaneously. While previous OCT studies have demonstrated structural restoration of the zebrafish retina following laser coagulation, morphological recovery does not necessarily indicate functional rehabilitation of those cells. Zebrafish ORG offers a method to investigate a restored photoreceptor's light response function. To examine whether zebrafish retinas had functionally regenerated to produce ORG signal, we acquired OCT data and ORG signals under various conditions, including stimulation light powers, wavelength, and data acquisition durations after light stimulation. Our custom-built OCT for zebrafish posterior imaging offers BM-scans (repeated serial B-scans) and simultaneous light stimulation in the same session. Additionally, a 532-nm laser combined with an imaging probe photocoagulated the zebrafish retina to initiate regeneration. These, first to our knowledge, experiments, and analyses of the light-evoked zebrafish ORGs provide new insight and experimental methods for studying the functional recovery of neural cells during regeneration. © 2025 The Author(s).