Optical coherence tomography (OCT) provides real-time, objective, in-vivo, optical cross-sectional representations of the retina and optic nerve. Recent innovations in image acquisition, including the incorporation of Fourier/spectral-domain detection, have improved imaging speed, sensitivity and resolution. Still, there remain specific structures within ocular OCT images, such as retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), which are of clinical interest but consistently have low contrast. This makes it difficult to differentiate between surrounding layers and structures. The objectives of this project were: 1. To establish a reliable method for OCT imaging of the healthy and diseased mouse eye in order to provide a platform for testing the utility of OCT contrast agents for ocular imaging, 2. To develop antibody-conjugated gold nanoparticles suitable for targeting specific structures and enhancing OCT image contrast in the mouse eye, and 3. To examine the localized contrast-enhancing ability and biocompatibility of gold nanoparticle contrast agents in-vivo. Our organizing hypotheses were that nanoparticles could improve contrast by modulating the intensity of backscattered light detected by OCT and that they could be directed to structures of interest using antibodies specific to cellular markers.A reproducible method for imaging the mouse retina and quantifying retinal thickness was developed and this technique was then applied to a mouse model for retinal ganglion cell loss, optic nerve crush. Gold nanorods were designed specifically to augment the backscattering OCT signal at the same wavelengths of light used in current ophthalmic OCT imaging schemes (resonant wavelength Λ = 840 nm). Anti-CD90.2 (Thy1.2) antibodies were conjugated to the gold nanorods and a protocol for characterization of the success of antibody conjugation was developed. Upon injection, the gold nanorods were found to remain in the vitreous post-injection, with many consumed by an early inflammatory response and only very few reaching the internal limiting membrane and passing into the retina. Our findings suggest that, while gold nanorods are able to locally increase OCT signal intensity in the vitreous, their utility in the retina may be limited
