A New Model for Eye Disease

描述(申请人提供)：糖尿病视网膜病变(DR)和年龄相关性黄斑变性(AMD)是工业化世界成年人失明的两个主要原因。这两种情况都涉及血管异常、新血管的增殖和渗漏。早产儿视网膜病变(ROP)是早产儿出生后通过补充氧气维持新生儿失明的主要原因。这种疾病涉及强烈的视网膜新生血管，并导致视网膜脱离。失明的另一个原因是角膜新生血管，这通常是由于角膜损伤和感染造成的。目前的眼部新生血管的哺乳动物模型需要长时间、繁琐的手术操作，而且并不总是能改善视力；另一种快速、侵入性较小的动物模型用于研究眼部新生血管的过程和评估药物效果，将有助于识别新的治疗方法。第一阶段的研究证实斑马鱼是眼睛血管形成的模型。第二阶段的研究将开发一种斑马鱼眼血管形成模型，可用于筛选有效治疗涉及新生血管的衰弱疾病的药物。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Diabetic retinopathy (DR) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are the two leading causes of blindness in adults in the industrialized world. Both conditions involve vascular abnormalities, proliferation and leakage of new blood vessels. Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a major cause of newborn blindness in premature infants maintained by oxygen supplementation during the postnatal period. This disease involves intense neovascularization of the retina and leads to retinal detachment. Another cause of blindness is corneal neovascularization, which often results from injury and infection in the cornea. Current mammalian models for ocular neovascularization require lengthy, tedious surgical manipulation and do not always result in improved vision; an alternative rapid, less invasive animal model for studying the process of ocular neovascularization and assessing drug effects will facilitate identification of new therapeutics. Phase I research validated zebrafish as a model for vascularization of the eye. Phase II research will develop a zebrafish model for ocular vascularization that can be used to screen drugs that would be effective in treating debilitating diseases involving neovascularization.