Durable ex vivo mouse retina 3D tissue models for optical coherence tomography

Durable phantoms with optical properties and layered structures like healthy and diseased tissues are highly desirable for reliable performance testing of novel high-resolution optical coherence tomography (HR-OCT) systems. In this context, we performed investigations on the establishment of durable 3D retina models from eyes dissected ex vivo from control mice and eyes from animals treated with N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) which induces glaucoma-like tissue alterations. The comparison of data from resin-embedded tissue with native murine retina in gels demonstrates that by utilization of appropriate preparation protocols highly stable 3D samples with layered structures equivalent to native tissues can be fabricated which are suitable for reliable HR-OCT performance characterization.