Functional intrinsic optical signal imaging for objective optoretinography of human photoreceptors.

Functional mapping of photoreceptor physiology is important for better disease diagnosis and treatment assessment. Fast intrinsic optical signal (IOS), which arises before light-evoked pupillary response, promises a unique biomarker of photoreceptor physiology for objective optoretinography with high resolution. This study is to test the feasibility of non-mydriatic IOS mapping of retinal photoreceptors in awake human. Depth-resolved optical coherence tomography verified outer segment (OS) as the anatomic origin of fast photoreceptor-IOS. Dynamic IOS changes are primarily confined at OS boundaries connected with inner segment and retinal pigment epithelium, supporting transient OS shrinkage due to phototransduction process as the mechanism of the fast photoreceptor-IOS response.