A versatile laser-induced porcine model of outer retinal and choroidal degeneration for preclinical testing.

ABSTRACT: Over 30 million people worldwide suffer from untreatable vision loss and blindness associated with childhood-onset and age-related eye diseases caused by photoreceptor (PR), retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), and choriocapillaris (CC) degeneration. Recent work suggests that RPE-based cell therapy may slow down vision loss in late stages of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a polygenic disease induced by RPE atrophy. However, accelerated development of effective cell therapies is hampered by the lack of large-animal models that allow testing safety and efficacy of clinical doses covering the human macula (20 mm2). We developed a versatile pig model to mimic different types and stages of retinal degeneration. Using an adjustable power micropulse laser, we generated varying degrees of RP

SUBMITTER: Barone F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10393234 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature