Methods to Induce Chronic Ocular Hypertension: Reliable Rodent Models as a Platform for Cell Transplantation and Other Therapies.

Glaucoma, a form of progressive optic neuropathy, is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. Being a prominent disease affecting vision, substantial efforts are being made to better understand glaucoma pathogenesis and to develop novel treatment options including neuroprotective and neuroregenerative approaches. Cell transplantation has the potential to play a neuroprotective and/or neuroregenerative role for various ocular cell types (e.g., retinal cells, trabecular meshwork). Notably, glaucoma is often associated with elevated intraocular pressure, and over the past 2 decades, several rodent models of chronic ocular hypertension (COH) have been developed that reflect these changes in pressure. However, the underlying pathophysiology of glaucoma in these models and how they compare to the human condition remains unclear. This limitation is the primary barrier for using rodent models to develop novel therapies to manage glaucoma and glaucoma-related blindness. Here, we review the current techniques used to induce COH-related glaucoma in various rodent models, focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of the each, in order to provide a more complete understanding of how these models can be best utilized. To so do, we have separated them based on the target tissue (pre-trabecular, trabecular, and post-trabecular) in order to provide the reader with an encompassing reference describing the most appropriate rodent COH models for their research. We begin with an initial overview of the current use of these models in the evaluation of cell transplantation therapies.

Effects of Lycium barbarum on the Visual System.

Lycium barbarum (wolfberry, gogi berry, gouqizi, ) is one of the most widely used Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) and is also one of the most scientifically studied. Indeed, the polysaccharide component of this berry (LBP) has been shown to have antioxidant, antiinflammatory, antiexcitotoxic, and antiapoptotic properties. These properties make it a particularly useful treatment option for the ocular environment. Although there are a handful of studies investigating the use of LBP to treat diseases affecting the lens, the vast majority of the published literature investigating LBP in the visual system focus on the retina. In this chapter, we have described what is currently understood concerning the effects of LBP treatment on various retinal diseases, including glaucoma, ischemia/reperfusion, age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, and diabetic retinopathy. We then describe the functions attributed to LBP using other cellular contexts to elucidate the full mechanisms this CHM utilizes in the retina. By making connections between what is known about the function of LBP in a variety of tissues and its function as a therapy for retinal degenerative diseases, we hope to further emphasize the continued use of this CHM in clinical medicine in addition to providing a platform for additional study.

Development of novel filtering criteria to analyze RNA-sequencing data obtained from the murine ocular lens during embryogenesis.

Next-generation sequencing of the transcriptome (RNA-Seq) is a powerful method that allows for the quantitative determination of absolute gene expression, and can be used to investigate how these levels change in response to an experimental manipulation or disease condition. The sensitivity of this method allows one to analyze transcript levels of all expressed genes, including low abundance transcripts that encode important regulatory molecules, providing valuable insights into the global effects of experimental manipulations. However, this increased sensitivity can also make it challenging to ascertain which expression changes are biologically significant. Here, we describe a novel set of filtering criteria - based on biological insights and computational approaches - that were applied to prioritize genes for further study from an extensive number of differentially expressed transcripts in lenses lacking Smad interacting protein 1 (Sip1) obtained via RNA-Seq by Manthey and colleagues in Mechanisms of Development (Manthey et al., 2014). Notably, this workflow allowed an original list of over 7,100 statistically significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) to be winnowed down to 190 DEGs that likely play a biologically significant role in Sip1 function during lens development. Focusing on genes whose expression was upregulated or downregulated in a manner opposite to what normally occurs during lens development, we identified 78 genes that appear to be strongly dependent on Sip1 function. From these data (GEO accession number GSE49949), it appears that Sip1 regulates multiple genes in the lens that are generally distinct from those regulated by Sip1 in other cellular contexts, including genes whose expression is prominent in the early head ectoderm, from which the lens differentiates. Further, the analysis criteria outlined here represent a filtering scheme that can be used to prioritize genes in future RNA-Seq investigations performed at this stage of ocular lens development.

The Zeb proteins δEF1 and Sip1 may have distinct functions in lens cells following cataract surgery.

PURPOSE: Posterior capsular opacification (PCO), the most prevalent side effect of cataract surgery, occurs when residual lens epithelial cells (LECs) undergo fiber cell differentiation or epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Here, we used a murine cataract surgery model to investigate the role of the Zeb proteins, Smad interacting protein 1 (Sip1) and δ-crystallin enhancer-binding factor 1 (δEF1), during PCO. METHODS: Extracapsular extraction of lens fiber cells was performed on wild-type and Sip1 knockout mice. Protein expression patterns were assessed at multiple time points after surgery using confocal immunofluorescence. ßB1-Crystallin mRNA levels were measured using quantitative RT-PCR. We used Transfac searches to identify δEF1 binding sites in the ßB1-crystallin promoter and transfection analysis to test the ability of δEF1 to regulate ßB1-crystallin expression. RESULTS: δEF1, which, in other systems, can activate fibrotic genes (e.g., α-smooth muscle actin) and repress epithelial genes, upregulates by 48 hours after fiber cell removal. In culture, δEF1 repressed ßB1-crystallin promoter activity, suggesting that it may also turn off lens gene expression following surgery, contributing to "fibrotic PCO" development. Sip1 also upregulates in LECs by 48 hours, but analysis of Sip1 knockout lenses demonstrated that Sip1 does not play a major role in EMT or fiber cell differentiation after surgery. However, Sip1 knockout LECs do express the ectodermal marker keratin 8, suggesting that Sip1 may limit the reprogramming of residual LECs to an embryonic state. CONCLUSIONS: Zeb transcription factors likely play important, but distinct roles in PCO development after cataract surgery.

Loss of Sip1 leads to migration defects and retention of ectodermal markers during lens development.

SIP1 encodes a DNA-binding transcription factor that regulates multiple developmental processes, as highlighted by the pleiotropic defects observed in Mowat-Wilson syndrome, which results from mutations in this gene. Further, in adults, dysregulated SIP1 expression has been implicated in both cancer and fibrotic diseases, where it functionally links TGFß signaling to the loss of epithelial cell characteristics and gene expression. In the ocular lens, an epithelial tissue important for vision, Sip1 is co-expressed with epithelial markers, such as E-cadherin, and is required for the complete separation of the lens vesicle from the head ectoderm during early ocular morphogenesis. However, the function of Sip1 after early lens morphogenesis is still unknown. Here, we conditionally deleted Sip1 from the developing mouse lens shortly after lens vesicle closure, leading to defects in coordinated fiber cell tip migration, defective suture formation, and cataract. Interestingly, RNA-Sequencing analysis on Sip1 knockout lenses identified 190 differentially expressed genes, all of which are distinct from previously described Sip1 target genes. Furthermore, 34% of the genes with increased expression in the Sip1 knockout lenses are normally downregulated as the lens transitions from the lens vesicle to early lens, while 49% of the genes with decreased expression in the Sip1 knockout lenses are normally upregulated during early lens development. Overall, these data imply that Sip1 plays a major role in reprogramming the lens vesicle away from a surface ectoderm cell fate towards that necessary for the development of a transparent lens and demonstrate that Sip1 regulates distinctly different sets of genes in different cellular contexts.