In vivo analysis of the time and spatial activation pattern of microglia in the retina following laser-induced choroidal neovascularization

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography in Mice: Comparison with Confocal Scanning Laser Microscopy and Fluorescein Angiography

“…Additionally, because of the interindividual variability of many animal models of vascular diseases, it would be desirable to test therapeutic approaches in the same animal. 23,24 In this direction, the normal vasculature in C57BL/6J mice was recently evaluated with OCT-A using an RTVue XR Avanti system (Optovue, Inc., Fremont, California). 10 Furthermore, this study showed that OCT-A was useful to visualize laser-induced choroidal neovascularization in mice.…”

Comprehensive analysis of mouse retinal mononuclear phagocytes

“…The retinal fundus is optimal for non-invasive imaging and GFP-labeled or autofluorescent phagocytes can be visualized with a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope in the blue auto-fluorescence mode. This procedure is especially useful in conditions where GFP+ microglia accumulate at focal lesion areas around atrophic areas 23 or close to experimental laser spots 18,21 . Microglia can be directly imaged when they contain auto fluorescent endogenous lipids due to lipid storage disease 11 or when they have ingested large amounts of lipofuscin granules related to retinal aging processes 24 .…”

“…Phagocytic murine retinal microglia have been traced by retro-grade labeling of ganglion cells with different dyes 17 , but more common now is in vivo imaging with GFP-expressing transgenic animals [18][19][20][21] and/or immunostaining with the marker ionized calcium binding adapter molecule 1 (Iba1) 22 . The retinal fundus is optimal for non-invasive imaging and GFP-labeled or autofluorescent phagocytes can be visualized with a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope in the blue auto-fluorescence mode.…”

Local partial depletion of CD11b+ cells and their influence on choroidal neovascularization using the CD11b‐HSVTK mouse model

“…While the impact of macrophages was well investigated and their depletion results in a significant and verifiable reduction of neovascular areas (Espinosa-Heidmann et al 2003;Sakurai et al 2003aSakurai et al , 2003b, the particular influence of microglia is insufficiently understood (M€ uther et al 2010;Liu et al 2013;Krause et al 2014;Crespo-Garcia et al 2015). While the impact of macrophages was well investigated and their depletion results in a significant and verifiable reduction of neovascular areas (Espinosa-Heidmann et al 2003;Sakurai et al 2003aSakurai et al , 2003b, the particular influence of microglia is insufficiently understood (M€ uther et al 2010;Liu et al 2013;Krause et al 2014;Crespo-Garcia et al 2015).…”

“…Recent studies have focused on the influence of mononuclear phagocytes, such as macrophages and microglia cells, on CNV. While the impact of macrophages was well investigated and their depletion results in a significant and verifiable reduction of neovascular areas (Espinosa-Heidmann et al 2003;Sakurai et al 2003aSakurai et al , 2003b, the particular influence of microglia is insufficiently understood (M€ uther et al 2010;Liu et al 2013;Krause et al 2014;Crespo-Garcia et al 2015).…”