In VivoAssessment of Postnatal Murine Ocular Development by Ultrasound Biomicroscopy

PURPOSE: Ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) can noninvasively provide anatomical information about mouse ocular structures. We present the quantitation of postnatal murine eye development using UBM. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The eyes from CD-1 mice were examined at 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks of postnatal development using 40 MHz UBM. Patterns of ocular tissue growth including the lens, globe, and anterior chamber were calculated. RESULTS: Postnatal CD-1 lens and globe volumes are consistent with an exponential decay of growth during the first 8 postnatal weeks. Anterior chamber depth increases most sharply in the first 2 postnatal weeks but continues to increase up to the 8th postnatal week. Anterior segment angle was observed to increase from 1 to 4 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: UBM can be used to obtain in vivo quantitative measurements of postnatal murine ocular structures. Our ability to obtain ocular anatomical information will facilitate future assessments of mouse models of human disease.