Abstract
Purpose :
Gene therapy using viral vectors has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of retinal diseases. However it remains difficult to precisely determine the retinal area infected with the viral vector. The current study aimed to image the infected area following AAV virus mediated gene therapy in an in vivo model of diabetic retinopathy.
Methods :
The streptozocin-induced (STZ) model was used as the model of diabetic retinopathy. Diabetes was induced at age 4 weeks in C57BL/6J mice and confirmed when fasting plasma glucose became persistently elevated (>300 mg/dL). Experiments were done at 10 weeks of hyperglycemia in 10 STZ mice and 10 littermate control mice. Subretinal injections of AAV-shRNA-GFP or AAV-scramble-GFP were peformed. Retinal imaging was obtained using a Micron IV camera 6 weeks after the subretinal injections. T-test and ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons post-hoc test were used to evaluate significant differences between groups. Values of p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results :
15 mice received subretinal injections. Retinal imaging showed that the AAV infection rate was 100%. There was no difference in the size of the infected retinal area between diabetic and control mice, or between retinas injected with AAV-shRNA and retinas injected with AAV-scramble (p>0.05).
Conclusions :
Retinal imaging after subretinal injection of gene therapy allows precise visualization of the retinal area treated, and aids in assessing the effect of treatment
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Imaging in the Eye Conference, held in Seattle, WA, May 4, 2024.