Project description:We investigated diurnal changes in gene expression in the retina and choroid at the onset of experimental myopia. We induced visual form deprivation myopia in young chicks, and isolated retinal and choroidal tissues separately in form- deprived and contralateral control eyes every 4 hours over a single 24-hour period.
Project description:Myopia has become the major cause of visual impairment worldwide. However, its retina-related pathogenesis remains unclear. In recent years, proteomics has become a high-throughput tool to explain biological mechanisms. In this study, we examined the retinas of guinea pigs with form deprivation myopia using 4D label-free proteomics and found disorders of retinal metabolism in experimental myopia.
Project description:Development of myopia is associated with large-scale changes in ocular tissue gene expression. Although differential expression of coding genes underlying development of myopia has been a subject of intense investigation, the role of non-coding genes such as microRNAs in the development of myopia is largely unknown. In this study, we explored myopia-associated miRNA expression profiles in the retina and sclera of C57Bl/6J mice with experimentally induced myopia using microarray technology. We found a total of 53 differentially expressed miRNAs in the retina and no differences in miRNA expression in the sclera of C57BL/6J mice after 10 days of visual form deprivation, which induced -6.93 ± 2.44 D (p < 0.000001, n = 12) of myopia. We also identified their putative mRNA targets among mRNAs found to be differentially expressed in myopic retina and potential signaling pathways involved in the development of form-deprivation myopia using miRNA-mRNA interaction network analysis. Analysis of myopia-associated signaling pathways revealed that myopic response to visual form deprivation in the retina is regulated by a small number of highly integrated signaling pathways. Our findings highlight substantial involvement of miRNAs in the regulation of refractive eye development, and in the development of myopia through the retinal gene regulation.
Project description:Following laboratory and clinical findings implicating circadian biology in the pathogenesis of myopia (nearsightedness), we examined gene expression in two crucial tissues controlling post-natal refractive development, the retina and choroid. Inducing unilateral visual form deprivation myopia in young chicks, a widely studied and validated model, we isolated retinal and choroidal tissues every 4 hours over a single day from myopic and contralateral control eyes during a period time when myopia progresses rapidly.
