February 23, 2018
Keio University School of Medicine
A research group from the Keio University School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology, led by Professor Kazuo Tsubota, Project Associate Professor Toshihide Kurihara, and Hyo-en Kang, a student in the Doctoral Programs in the Graduate School of Medicine, has successfully established a new mouse model for myopia. This model was created by fitting mice with custom-made goggles made with a 3D printer and precisely measuring the axial length, which correlates with the degree of myopia. This enables stable and highly efficient myopia research in mice, in which it has previously been difficult to induce myopia despite their use as a model organism. This mouse model successfully replicates the characteristics of human myopia, where the axial length elongates, and has also succeeded in reproducing the phenomenon where atropine eye drops suppress myopia. The use of mice is essential for research to elucidate pathophysiology at the cellular and molecular levels, as it allows for genetic modification experiments in vivo. This mouse model is expected to contribute significantly to clarifying the mechanisms of myopia onset and progression, as well as to the development of new preventative methods and therapeutic drugs for myopia.
The results of this research were published in the online edition of the interdisciplinary general journal "Scientific Reports" on February 1.
Please see below for the full press release.