Study of Changes in Retrofoveolar Choroidal Thickness During Aerobic Exercise

Study the change of retrofoveolar choroidal thickness measured by optical coherence tomography during aerobic exercise inducing an increase in systolic blood pressure in healthy subjects.Ten healthy participants will perform an exercise (riding a bicycle ergometer) and will be examined with EDI-OCT. Each participant will be scanned before exercise, during the exercise and afterwards at 0 and 5 min. Each OCT measurement will be coupled to the arterial blood pressure evaluation.

Currently there is a growing interest in the study of the choroid in the pathogenesis of many ocular pathologies such as central serous chorioretinitis1, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and myopia. Moreover, the recent development of new imaging methods allows the exploration of the normal and pathological processes of the choroid. In particular, the Enhanced Depth Imaging (EDI) mode in Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) provides cross-sectional imaging of the choroid and in vivo measurement of its thickness. Understanding the factors that would modify the choroidal thickness would make it possible to better understand the pathophysiology of many chorioretinal pathologies and would help to guide therapeutics in the future. However, systemic changes induced by physical activity, and in particular changes in systolic blood pressure, could be responsible for changes in the choroidal blood flow and thus in the choroidal thickness. The study consists in testing ten patients who will perform an exercise testing as part of the practice of a sportive activity. Patients will undergo an OCT in EDI mode to measure the retrofoveolar choroidal thickness during the exercise. Each OCT image will be coupled to the evaluation of blood pression and heart rate. Patients are treated in the usual way but the study is an interventional study, with minimal risks and constraints, because of the imaging (OCT image in EDI mode).