Early regional changes in retina and choroid of chicks following monocular hemifield form deprivation.

ABSTRACT

To investigate regional changes in the chick retina and choroid after hemifield form deprivation (HFD). Ten chicks were randomly and equally divided into a temporal retinal deprivation (TRD) and nasal retinal deprivation (NRD) group. HFD was induced with half-lateral translucent plastic goggles in the right eye; the left eye was kept untreated. Swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) images obtained at 0, 3, and 72 hours (h) were analyzed using customized software. After 72 h of TRD, the retinal thickness (RT) of the treated eyes was significantly less than that of the fellow eyes in the temporal (P = 0.034) rather than the nasal (P = 0.083) region. In the NRD group, the RT of the treated eyes was thinner in both the nasal and temporal regions than that of the fellow eyes (P < 0.01). The RT alterations were more pronounced in the temporal (Δ = -16.86 ± 7.14 µm) than in the nasal (Δ = -13.44 ± 4.83 µm) region after 72-h TRD (P = 0.036), whereas the opposite was observed in the NRD group (P = 0.008). The choroidal thickness (ChT) of the treated eyes was less in both the nasal and temporal regions than that of the fellow eyes in both groups after 72-h treatment (P < 0.01). The ChT alterations were more pronounced in the temporal (Δ = -2.48 ± 8.95 µm) than in the nasal (Δ = 23.65 ± 13.58 µm) region after 72-h TRD (P = 0.021), whereas the NRD group showed the opposite effect (P = 0.019). HFD in chicks can lead to retinal and choroidal thinning in the corresponding regions.