Ocular findings and histological change in glaucoma model of DBA/2J Mice / 眼科研究

ABSTRACT

Background As a hereditary chronic glaucoma model,DBA/2J mouse is widely used in the experimental research of glaucoma worldwide.Although some researches have determined the ocular change induced by hypertention of DBA/2J mouse,there is seldom reports about the research on the relationship of ocular pathological abnormality and development course in DBA/2J mouse.Objective The present study is to characterize the ocular abnormalities and histological changes induced by hypertention in different ages of DBA/2J mice.Methods The clean female DBA/2J mice aged 3-,5-,7-,9-,11-,14-month-old (6 mice for each) were used in this study,and age matched 18 female C57BL/6J mice were as controls.Intraocular pressure (IOP) of mice was measured by anterior chamber puncture of microneedle.The animals were sacrificed and retinal flat mounts were prepared for histopathological examination under the light microscope.Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) were counted by retinal Nissl staining.Morphology of optic nerve cup in frozen section was examined under the light microscope.The experiment followed the Standard of Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.Results Developing pigment dispersion,iris stroma atrophy,transillumination defects and pupil deformation were found in DBA/2J mice.IOP began to rise in 7-month-old DBA/2J mouse,peaked in 9-month-old mouse and returned to normal in 14-month-old DBA/2J mouse.A significant difference was found in IOP among different ages of DBA/2J mice (F=27.600,P＜0.05) but not C57BL/6J mice (F=0.249,P=0.781).RGCs loss was observed in 7-month-old DBA/2J mice and more serious from 9 to 11-month-old mice,showing a significant decline of RGCs among different ages of DBA/2J mice (F=23.594,P=0.000) but not C57BL/6J mice (F=1.816,P=0.211).The abnormality of optic nerve cupping and decrease of retinal nerve fiber layer were found in 9 to 14-month-old months old DBA/2J mice and were normal in age-matched C57BL/6J mice.Conclusion The abnormal alteration of the ocular anterior segment in DBA/2J mouse is gradually aggravated with aging.The findings of eye in DBA/2J mouse is characterized by secondary glaucoma.DBA/2J mouse offer an ideal animal model for the research of glaucoma.