Development of an in vitro assay to evaluate veterinary ophthalmologic therapies.

治疗狗的眼病的兽药在整个北美代表着一个巨大且不断增长的市场部门。眼睛问题在动物中很常见，对这些疾病的有效医疗管理通常需要反复使用特定的药物进行治疗。新药的开发是未来市场增长的一个关键领域，具有为加拿大人在制药、制造和销售/营销领域提供高价值就业机会的巨大潜力。随着新疗法的开发和实施，兽医诊所的增长也可能带来巨大的经济效益。目前，非侵入性药物的相对缺乏在一定程度上阻碍了新兽药的发展。在没有实际动物试验的情况下)评估候选药物是否会损害狗眼细胞以及这种药物是否有效的方法。这项提议如果成功，将寻求开发使用先前分离的培养的角膜细胞的分析方法，利用这种方法，可以在不进行侵入性测试的情况下，轻松确定预期眼药(正在开发或已在人体上使用)的安全性和有效性。细胞将在培养皿中以模拟正常狗角膜的结构和功能的方式生长。这些文化将受到物理或化学侮辱，模拟狗自然遭受的伤害或疾病的类型。然后用不同的测试药物处理这些培养物，以确定愈合的速度和质量是否得到改善，以及候选药物治疗是否会进一步损害细胞。开发一种用于评估狗的眼科药物的有效分析方法，将大大增强行业合作伙伴(默克公司)开发药物的潜力，并可大大加强加拿大在这一市场领域的参与。

Veterinary drugs to treat eye diseases in dogs represent a large and growing market sector throughout North America. Eye problems are common in animals, and effective medical management of these conditions often requires repeated treatment with specific medications. The development of new medications is a key area for future market growth with significant potential to provide high-value employment opportunities for Canadians in pharmacy, manufacturing and sales/marketing. Significant economic benefits are also likely to accrue through growth at veterinary clinics following the development and implementation of new therapies. Presently, the development of new veterinary drugs is hampered to some extent by the relative lack of non-invasive (ie. without actual animal testing) methods to assess whether cells from the dog eye will be damaged by candidate drugs, and whether such drugs will be effective. This proposal, if successful, will seek to develop assays using cultured corneal cells isolated previously, with which the safety and effectiveness of prospective eye medications (under development or already in use in humans) can be easily determined without invasive testing. Cells will be grown in culture dishes in a manner that mimics the structure and function of the normal dog cornea. The cultures will be subjected to physical or chemical insults that model the types of injuries or diseases suffered naturally by dogs. The cultures will then be treated with different test medications to determine whether or not the rate and quality of healing is improved, and whether the cells are further damaged by the candidate drug treatment. The development of an effective assay for the assessment of eye drugs in dogs should significantly enhance the potential for drug development by the industry partner (Merck) and could substantially enhance Canadian participation in this market sector.