RESUMO
In wildtype mice, the pigment granules in the retinal pigment epithelium aggregate in the dark towards Bruch's membrane and disperse towards the photoreceptors in the light. We have developed a repeatable method amenable for quantifying pigment position in the RPE from wild type mice by estimating the population density of pigment granules, or pigment density, within 4 µm2 areas in the basal part of cells examined by transmission electron microscopy. To measure pigment position, 2 µm × 2 µm squares were aligned along the apical ends of the basal microvilli. The pigment granules within each 4 µm2 area were counted, and the average pigment density was calculated for each mouse. The average pigment density for light-adapted mice (n = 3 mice) was 1.3 pigment granules/µm2 (± 0.2 pigment granules/µm2). For dark-adapted wildtype mice (n = 3 mice), pigment density was 1.9 pigment granules/µm2 (± 0.3 pigment granules/µm2). Pigment density was statistically significantly different (p < 0.02) between light-adapted and dark-adapted mice, with pigment density higher in the dark-adapted mice. This method was implemented by four observers and their results were compared. No statistically significant differences were found in the measurements acquired by the different observers, illustrating the repeatability of the method.
