The effect of oxygen and light on the structure and function of the neonatal rat retina

• Published in: Documenta ophthalmologica Vol. 118; no. 1; pp. 37 - 54
• Main Authors: Dorfman, A. L., Joly, S., Hardy, P., Chemtob, S., Lachapelle, P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.02.2009; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Animals, Newborn; Disease Models, Animal; Fetal Development; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Isoprostanes - physiology; Light; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Ophthalmology; Oxygen; Platelet Activating Factor - physiology; Rats; Retina - drug effects; Retina - embryology; Retinitis Pigmentosa - physiopathology; Retinopathy of Prematurity - physiopathology; Review Paper; Thromboxane A2 - physiology; Visual Pathways - embryology; Oxygen; Histology; Retinopathy; Electroretinogram; Light; Neonatal rat
• ISSN: 0012-4486; 1573-2622
• DOI: 10.1007/s10633-008-9128-7

The neonatal rat is born with its eyes closed and an immature visual system, that some say is equivalent to that of a human fetus at 26 weeks of gestation. From birth, the visual system of the newborn rat will gradually mature, the first manifestation of that being the opening of the eye which usually take place at postnatal day 14. Complete maturation of the retina and visual pathways is normally reached at the end of the first month of life. The neonatal rat model thus represents a unique paradigm to study the normal and abnormal maturation of the primary visual pathways that normally occurs in utero in human subjects. Our laboratory has, over the past decade, developed two animal models of postnatally induced retinopathy, namely the Oxygen-Induced Retinopathy (OIR) that share several common features with the human Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) and the Light-Induced Retinopathy that is viewed by some as a valid model of some forms of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). The following pages review what is known of the pathophysiological processes taking place and suggest possible therapeutic avenues that could be explored in order to halt the degenerative process.