Modeling early pathophysiological phenotypes of diabetic retinopathy in a human inner blood-retinal barrier-on-a-chip.

ABSTRACT: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a microvascular disorder characterized by inner blood-retinal barrier (iBRB) breakdown and irreversible vision loss. While the symptoms of DR are known, disease mechanisms including basement membrane thickening, pericyte dropout and capillary damage remain poorly understood and interventions to repair diseased iBRB microvascular networks have not been developed. In addition, current approaches using animal models and in vitro systems lack translatability and predictivity to finding new target pathways. Here, we develop a diabetic iBRB-on-a-chip that produces pathophysiological phenotypes and disease pathways in vitro that are representative of clinical diagnoses. We show that diabetic stimulation of the iBRB-on-a-chip mirrors DR features, including pericyte los

SUBMITTER: Maurissen TL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10866954 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature