The Normative Retinal and Choroidal Thicknesses of the Rabbit as Revealed by Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography

ABSTRACT

Purpose@#We used spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) to assess the retinal and choroidal thicknesses of the rabbit, a commonly used animal model of ophthalmic disease. We report normative datasets. @*Methods@#Semi-automated measurements were made on 15 normal right eyes of New Zealand white rabbits. Total retinal, inner retinal layer, outer retinal layer, choroidal, ganglion cell layer, ganglion cell complex, inner nuclear layer, and outer nuclear layer thicknesses were measured at fixed distances (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 mm) below the optic nerve head. @*Results@#Total retinal layer (Pearson’s correlation coefficient [CC] = -0.778, p < 0.05), inner retinal layer (CC = -0.710, p < 0.05), outer retinal layer (CC = -0.495, p < 0.05), ganglion cell complex (CC = -0.292, p < 0.05), ganglion cell layer (CC = -0.284, p < 0.05), and outer nuclear layer thicknesses (CC = -0.760, p < 0.05) decreased with the distance from the optic nerve head. Inner nuclear layer thickness correlated negatively with the distance from the optic nerve head, but the correlation coefficient was low (CC = -0.263, p < 0.05). Choroidal thickness increased with the distance from the optic nerve head (CC = 0.511, p < 0.05). @*Conclusions@#Rabbit retinal thicknesses were measured and analyzed by the distance from the optic nerve head. The datasets will serve as standards when using rabbits.