Zebrafish Myopia Models

Myopia is the result of an abnormal growth of the eye that causes a refractive error. It is the most common human eye disease worldwide and its incidence is increasing. Although myopia is heritable, its inheritance is complex, and the development of the disease can be highly influenced by the visual environment. Therefore, myopia is heterogeneous, with phenotypic and genetic variability. But how blurring within the eye is calculated is currently unknown, as is the precise wiring of the neural circuits that trigger choroidal and scleral-modifying signals. Likewise, the identification of specific signaling molecules that mediate emmetropization is lacking. From a disease perspective, there is a great need to identify and define gene networks and loci associated with myopia.

Zebrafish have long been recognized as a useful model for studying human eye development and disease. Detailed characterization of embryonic development of the posterior and RPE and anterior parts of the eye (including various tissues of the lens, cornea, ciliary body, and iris angle) not only elucidates the sequence of events in vertebrate eye development, but also highlights the relationship between the zebrafish eye and the Similarities in the structure of the human eye. Zebrafish have been used to study genetic and environmental eye diseases, including myopia, glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa, ciliopathies, albinism, and diabetes.

Fig.1 Dorsal views of wild-type (Left) and bugeye mutant (Right) adult zebrafish.

Our Zebrafish Myopia Models

Creative Biogene offers a range of transgenic zebrafish models of myopia, such as lrp2-mutated zebrafish, which exhibit measurable refractive error at 1 month of age and significantly enlarged eyes by 3 months of age. In addition, we can accurately measure axial length, focal length, and lens diameter using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, and we can also analyze the effects of myopia-related genes on the modulation of axial length. Overall, we will help you find treatments for human eye diseases by using complex transgenes to visualize specific cells, proteins, signaling pathways, and cellular processes in the body. We can also help you screen for drug candidates that control myopia and prevent its progression through zebrafish models.

Advantages

• Determining effects on embryonic development by a variety of methods, such as in situ hybridization, vital dyes, and transgenics
• Rapid screening of compounds that affect certain aspects of development
• Genetic screening of mutants for embryonic development
• Efficiently perform positional cloning

References

1. Bibliowicz J, Tittle RK, Gross JM. Toward a better understanding of human eye disease insights from the zebrafish, Danio rerio. Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci. 2011, 100:287-330.
2. Lin MY, Lin IT, Wu YC, Wang IJ. Stepwise candidate drug screening for myopia control by using zebrafish, mouse, and Golden Syrian Hamster myopia models. EBioMedicine. 2021, 65:103263.
3. Gestri G, Link BA, Neuhauss SC. The visual system of zebrafish and its use to model human ocular diseases. Dev Neurobiol. 2012, 72(3):302-27.

For research use only. Not intended for any clinical use.