What is Flavoprotein Fluorescence?

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a well-established precursor to many ocular diseases. When oxidative stress occurs in the eye, flavoproteins in the mitochondria are susceptible to excitation by blue light. When excited, the flavoproteins emit a green light. Our devices leveraged this endogenous phenomenon by detecting and measuring the amount of green light emitted, generating an FPF score that provides insights into the patient’s ocular health.

Since FPF can be detected before cell damage occurs, it is possible to identity the early signs of disease. The FPF measure is also dynamic, meaning that a patient’s flavoproteins emit less FPF when their ocular tissue improves, so the measure can be responsive to successful treatment. Further, the measure is dye-free, painless and rapid, only requiring a few minutes to image patients.

What are the advantages of FPF?

What conditions can FPF be useful for?

Oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction have been shown to be a precursor to many different ocular diseases. While we have studied FPF in many different conditions, such as diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma, there are many others that require more research. Please review our publications to better understand our clinical findings to date.