Meet us at the 2023 Euretina Congress in Amsterdam and see our OptoDrum, Photorefractor and Keratometer in action! October 5 – 8
Symposium: Opportunities, Hopes, and Challenges in Translating Visual Restoration from Mouse to Human
Striatech celebrates its 5th anniversary with a top-class Symposium on the topic of translating visual restoration from mouse to human. Presentations will be given by Professor Eberhart Zrenner (University of Tübingen), Professor Constance Cepko (Harvard Medical School) and Miikka Terho (Pioneer Retina Implant Patient, Finland). In addition, the speakers will highlight important aspects and directions in this area of research in a moderated panel discussion.
Stage-Dependent Changes of Visual Function and Electrical Response of the Retina in the rd10 Mouse Model
Cha et al characterize the rd10 mouse model at the level of behavior (optomotor reflex with our OptoDrum), as well as ex-vivo spike recordings of ganglion cells to light stimulation and electrical stimulation. Thy find that the retina responds differently to electrical stimulation depending on the stage of degeneration.
Neurovascular injury associated non-apoptotic endothelial caspase-9 and astroglial caspase-9 mediate inflammation and contrast sensitivity decline
Neurovascular injury, such as retinal vein occlusion, triggers expression of endothelial caspase-9 (EC Casp9). EC Casp9 induces pathological changes, including retinal edema, capillary ischemia, and neurodegeneration. One of the behavioral consequences is decline of contrast sensitivity, as shown with our OptoDrum. This paper gives new mechanistic insights into EC Casp9 action.
B cell-dependent EAE induces visual deficits in the mouse with similarities to human autoimmune demyelinating diseases
The experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mouse model is commonly used to study visual impairments associated with autoimmune demyelinating diseases. EAE is classically induced by immunization with the peptide MOG35-55. This mouse model lacks certain characteristics of analog diseases in humans, in particular the participation of B-cells in the immune response. Joly et al characterize the effects of immunization with a different peptide, bMOG, and find that these mice show hallmarks of common human diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica. This new mouse model therefore offers new avenues to test protective or restorative ophthalmic treatments.
Systemic Treatment with Pioglitazone Reverses Vision Loss in Preclinical Glaucoma Models
In two mouse models of Glaucoma, Zeng et al show that Pioglitazone, given orally, can reduce or even reverse vision loss. Pioglitazone reduces inflammatory responses. The positive effects could be observed even with continued elevation of intraocular pressure, suggesting that the neuroinflammation experienced during Glaucoma may be more harmful than the elevated pressure.
In situ-crosslinked hydrogel-induced experimental glaucoma model with persistent ocular hypertension and neurodegeneration
Lin et al present a new experimental animal model for glaucoma. By injecting a newly formulated hydrogel, they induce consistent intraocular pressure increase.
Chronic Proinflammatory Signaling Accelerates the Rate of Degeneration in a Spontaneous Polygenic Model of Inherited Retinal Dystrophy
Hollingsworth et al describe and characterize a new polygenic mouse model of inherited retinal dystrophies, the BXD32 mouse strain. They present evidence that a proinflammatory environment in the retina supports and accelerates the degeneration of the retina and the loss of visual function.
TNF-α stimulation enhances the neuroprotective effects of gingival MSCs derived exosomes in retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury via the MEG3/miR-21a-5p axis
Exosomes are small vesicles enclosed by a single outer membrane secreted from cells, ranging from 30 to 200 nm in diameter, containing messenger RNAs, non-coding RNAs, proteins, and biological factors, and they may play a cru-cial role in intercellular communication. Exosomes have been identified as potential therapeutic methods and drug delivery tools. Exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been investigated in disorders such as stroke, corneal diseases, and liver diseases, but not yet in an acute glaucoma model, such as the ischemia-reperfusion model in the eye. Yu et al show that exosomes from MSCs have strong neuroprotective effects which is even better when the MSCs had been stimulated with TNF-α, and they identify the underlying signaling pathway. Their findings my pave the way for a new cell-free therapeutic approach for glaucoma.
Gain-of-function mutations in ALPK1 cause an NF-κB-mediated autoinflammatory disease: functional assessment, clinical phenotyping and disease course of patients with ROSAH syndrome
In a large study, spanning identification of patient cohorts, characterization of those patients’ phenotypes, genetic analysis, generation and characterization of animal models, Kozycki et al show that ROSAH syndrome (cause by mutations in the ALPK1 gene) is an autoinflammatory disease with a large range of consequences. They show that treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs is successful. The newly generated animal model only partially replicated the human phenotypes. For example, the mice did not have visual deficits and showed no signs of retinal degeneration.