In vivo observation of the human retina at the cellular level is crucial to detect the first signs of retinal diseases and properly treat them. Despite the phenomenal advances in adaptive optics systems, clinical imaging of many retinal cells is still elusive due to the low signal-to-noise ratio induced by transpupillary illumination. We present a transscleral optical phase imaging method, which relies on high-angle oblique illumination of the retina, combined with adaptive optics, to enhance cell contrast. Examination of 11 healthy volunteer eyes, without pupil dilation, shows the ability of this method to produce in vivo images of retinal cells, from the retinal pigment epithelium to the nerve fibre layer. This method also allows the generation of high-resolution label-free ex vivo phase images of flat-mounted retinas. The in vivo images with 4.4° × 4.4° field of view are recorded in less than 10 s, opening new avenues in the exploration of healthy and diseased retinas.

在细胞水平上对人类视网膜的体内观察对于发现视网膜疾病的最初迹象并正确治疗它们至关重要。尽管自适应光学系统取得了惊人的进步，但由于经瞳孔照明引起的低信噪比，许多视网膜细胞的临床成像仍然难以捉摸。我们提出了一种经巩膜光学相位成像方法，它依赖于视网膜的高角度倾斜照明，结合自适应光学，以增强细胞对比度。对 11 只没有瞳孔扩张的健康志愿者眼睛的检查显示了这种方法能够产生视网膜细胞的体内图像，从视网膜色素上皮到神经纤维层。该方法还允许生成平装视网膜的高分辨率无标签离体相位图像。体内图像与 4。