Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) driven corneal neovascularization in mice usually requires specialized microsurgical skill to implant a VEGF impregnated polymer plastic into a corneal micropocket. The purpose of this study is to develop a simpler model of anterior chamber neovascularization and corneal neovascularization using an adenoviral-CMV-VEGF construct. Methods: Two microliters of adenoviral -CMV-VEGF were injected into the anterior chamber of one eye of an adult CD-1 mouse while a control adenovirus-CMV-GFP was injected into the anterior chamber of the contralateral eye. Groups of mice were sacrificed and histopathologically analyzed 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks after injection. Digital anterior segment photography, corneal and iris flat mounts with and without high molecular weight fluorescein dextran was performed. Furthermore hematoxylin eosin staining was performed on paraffin embedded and frozen tissue sections of the anterior segments. Results: Digital anterior segment photography demonstrated development of hyphema as well as corneal and iris neovascularization. Histopathology of corneal and iris flat mounts demonstrated corneal endothelial neovascularization. Iris neovascularization was also noted. Neovascularization was noted between the first and second week and persisted after 4 weeks. No neovascularization was noted in the control eyes. Conclusion: Corneal endothelial neovascularization and iris neovascularization was consistently produced and may be an easy and useful model for the evaluation of angiogenic inhibitors.
Keywords: 483 neovascularization • 419 gene transfer/gene therapy • 370 cornea: basic science