Larissa H.C. Tang

By Larissa H.C. Tang, Ian Y.H. Wong and Amy C.Y. Lo

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the leading causes of preventable vision impairment and blindness in the working-age population worldwide. Numerous animal models have been developed for therapeutic drug screening and to further increase our understanding of the molecular and cellular pathological processes involved in DR. Following our discussion of mouse models in “Animal Models of Diabetic Retinopathy Part 1,” we describe the cellular, molecular, and morphological features of both rodent and nonrodent models of DR and their respective advantages and limitations in this chapter. To date, no animal model can holistically reproduce the pathological progression of human DR; most only display early or advanced lesions of DR. However, a thorough understanding of genotypic and phenotypic expressions of existing models will facilitate researchers’ selection of the appropriate model to simulate their desired clinical scenarios.

Part of the book: Experimental Animal Models of Human Diseases

By Larissa H.C. Tang, Ian Y.H. Wong and Amy C.Y. Lo

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the leading causes of preventable vision impairment and blindness in the working-age population worldwide. Numerous animal models have been developed for therapeutic drug screening and to further our understanding of the molecular and cellular pathological processes involved in DR. In this book chapter, we describe the cellular, molecular and morphological features of mouse models of DR as well as their respective advantages and limitations. To date, no animal model can holistically reproduce the pathological progression of human DR; most only display early or advanced lesions of DR. However, a thorough understanding of genotypic and phenotypic expressions of existing models will facilitate researchers’ selection of the appropriate model to simulate their desired clinical scenarios.

Part of the book: Experimental Animal Models of Human Diseases