Microcirculation in the conjunctiva and retina in healthy subjects

• Published in: Eye and vision (Novato, Calif.) Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 11 - 6
• Main Authors: Shi, Ce, Jiang, Hong, Gameiro, Giovana Rosa, Wang, Jianhua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 06.04.2019; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease; Arteries; Blood flow; Blood flow velocity; Blood pressure; Bulbar conjunctiva; Contact lenses; Digital cameras; Flow velocity; Functional slit-lamp biomicroscopy (FSLB); Hemodynamics; Microvascular network; Multiple sclerosis; Software; Studies; Variability; Retinal function imager; Microcirculation; Microvascular network; Functional slit-lamp biomicroscopy (FSLB); Variability; Retina; Hemodynamics; Blood flow velocity; Conjunctiva; Bulbar conjunctiva
• ISSN: 2326-0254; 2326-0246; 2326-0254
• DOI: 10.1186/s40662-019-0136-3

The aim was to determine the relationship between bulbar conjunctival microcirculation and retinal microcirculation in a healthy population. A functional slit-lamp biomicroscope (FSLB) was used to measure blood flow velocity (BFV) and blood flow rate (BFR) in the conjunctiva while a retinal function imager (RFI) was used to measure macular BFV and BFR in the retina. One eye of each subject of 58 self-reported healthy subjects was imaged in the same session on the same day. The mean BFV in the venules of the conjunctiva was 0.49 ± 0.13 mm/s, which was significantly slower than that in the retinal arterioles (3.71 ± 0.78 mm/s,  < 0.001) and retinal venules (2.98 ± 0.58 mm/s,  < 0.001). The BFR in the conjunctiva (0.09 nl/s) was also significantly lower than that in the retina (arterioles = 0.81 nl/s, venules = 0.68 nl/s, all  < 0.001). The BFVs and BFRs were not related between the conjunctiva and retina (r ranged from - 0.17 to - 0.05, all  > 0.05). The microcirculation in the retina appeared to be different from that in the conjunctiva.