Adaptive Optics Ophthalmoscopy for Glaucoma

The adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope is a new instrument that has been developed at the University of Houston for the microscopic imaging of living human eyes. Dr. Roorda is employing this instrument to study the microscopic changes in the eyes of monkeys that have experimentally-induced glaucoma. His goal is to establish a timeline of the microscopic changes in the ganglion cells (a type of nerve cell that exists in the optic nerve) and in the optic disk that occur during the progression of glaucoma. These findings will be correlated with data related to visual field loss and electric response changes in the monkey eye. Dr. Roorda then hopes to build on these animal studies by using the same techniques to image and monitor glaucoma in human eyes.