Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a collective term for a group of eye diseases that cause vision loss without warning and often without symptoms. It damages the optic nerve, which transmits light impulses to the brain. Although high intraocular pressure (IOP) is clearly a risk factor, other factors are involved because even people with normal IOP develop glaucoma. Over three million Americans have glaucoma, which accounts for 9% to 12% of all cases of blindness in the U.S. (Glaucoma research foundation, www.glaucoma.org/learn).

JAX® Mice Model

DBA/2J                   

Stock Number 000671

DBA/2J is a widely used inbred strain that is valuable in a wide number of research areas. It is resistant to atherosclerosis, particularly prone to hearing defects, and, with age, develops progressive eye abnormalities that closely mimic human hereditary glaucoma. Defects include iris pigment dispersion, iris atrophy, anterior synechia (adhesion of the iris to the cornea), and elevated intraocular pressure (IOP). Onset of glaucoma begins when mice are between three and four months old: 56% of females and 15% of males lose iris pigment epithelium and develop transillumination of the peripheral iris. By the time they are six to seven months old, all have significant and widespread transillumination and thickening of the iris border. Elevation of IOP is evident in some females by the time they are six months old and in both sexes by the time they are nine months old (mean in females and males respectively: 20.3 ± 1.8 and 16.2 ± 1.4 mmHg).

References

Anderson MG, Libby RT, Gould DB, Smith RS, John SWM. 2005. High-dose radiation with bone marrow transfer prevents neurodegeneration in an inherited glaucoma. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. Mar 9; [Epub ahead of print].

Anderson MG, Smith RS, Savinova OV, Hawes NL, Chang B, Zabaleta A, Wilpan R, Heckenlively JR, Davisson MT, John SWM. 2001. Genetic modification of glaucoma associated phenotypes between AKXD-28/Ty and DBA/2J mice. BMC Genetics 2:1.