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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Prog Retin Eye Res. 2011 Nov 10;31(1):28–42. doi: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2011.11.001

Figure 2.

Figure 2

In vivo images of RPE AF photobleaching and disruption. A series of repeated images in the living macaque eye obtained using a fluorescence-enabled adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) shows the sequence of light-induced changes in RPE AF and photoreceptor reflectance that was observed following 568 nm light exposure. The honeycomb mosaic of discrete RPE cells can be seen because the cell nucleus does not contain lipofuscin and appears dark, whereas the cytoplasm surrounding the nucleus appears bright due to lipofuscin AF. The white outline in the pre-exposure image indicates the region of the retina exposed to either 788 J/cm2 or 210 J/cm2. The abrupt reduction in RPE AF intensity is visible in the immediately post-exposure images. There are no immediate changes in the appearance of the photoreceptor mosaic. Six days post-exposure, a long-term disruption in the RPE mosaic and an alteration in the photoreceptor reflectance (origin unknown) is seen with 788 J/cm2. Although less pronounced these changes persist over time, as seen 19 days post exposure. No long term changes were observed in the RPE or photoreceptors for 210 J/cm2 exposures.