Abstract
Purpose :
Our goal is to translate our published mouse ocular trauma model to a human relevant species, tree shrews.
Methods :
We exposed one eye of an anesthetized tree shrew to repeated bursts of overpressure air (20psi). Sham tree shrews were anesthetized and placed into the air blast chamber but were not exposed to the overpressure air. Two, four, or eight weeks post injury visual function was measured and tissue was collected for histology.
Results :
We detected some axon degeneration within the optic nerve at the current parameters that appears to be regional. The level of damage was less than that detected in mice likely due to the greater musculature around the eye of the tree shrew and its load-bearing optic nerve head. We are able to measure ERGs and VEPs in this species.
Conclusions :
We are able to induce blast-mediated indirect traumatic optic neuropathy in this human-relevant species. We expect that it will be a useful model for testing various therapeutic interventions.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.