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A. Messner, C. Fischak, M. Pfister, K. Schützenberger, F. Garreis, F. Paulsen, H. Stegmann, V. dos Santos, G. Garhöfer, L. Schmetterer, R.M. Werkmeister:
"Characterization of dry eye disease in a mouse model by optical coherence tomography and fluorescein staining";
Biomedical Optics Express, 10 (2019), 9; 4884 - 4895.

A custom-built ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography (UHR-OCT)
system and fluorescein staining were employed for investigation of a scopolamine induced dry
eye mouse model. Acquired data was used to evaluate common and complementary findings of
the two modalities. Central corneal thickness as measured by UHR-OCT increased significantly
over the study period of 24 hours, from 89.0 3.57 μm to 92.2 4.07 μm. Both techniques were
able to show corneal lesions with a large range of severity. Localized fluorescein staining was
detected in 5% and diffuse staining in 45% of cases where no epithelial damage was visible with
OCT. However, OCT revealed stromal defects in 6% and endothelial defects in 18% of the cases,
which could not be visualized via fluorescein staining. Thus, while fluorescein staining widely
detected defects of the corneal surface in a mouse model of dry eye disease, OCT non-invasively
revealed additional information about defect depth and involvement of particular layers.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/BOE.10.004884