Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography: An In Vivo Imaging Protocol for Assessing Retinal Morphology in Adult Zebrafish

The present study outlines a protocol for examining retinal structure in zebrafish, a popular model organism for ocular studies, using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). We demonstrate how this live imaging modality can be used to obtain high quality images of several retinal features, including the optic nerve, retinal vasculature, and the cone photoreceptor mosaic. Retinal histology sections were obtained from imaged fish for comparison with SD-OCT cross-sectional B-scans. Voronoi domain analysis was used to assess cone photoreceptor packing regularity at 3, 6, and 12 months. SD-OCT is an effective in vivo technique for studying the adult zebrafish retina and can be applied to disease models for longitudinal serial monitoring