Establishment of a Rapid Lesion-Controllable Retinal Degeneration Monkey Model for Preclinical Stem Cell Therapy

Retinal degenerative disorders (RDs) are the main cause of blindness without curable treatment. Our previous studies have demonstrated that human-induced pluripotent stem cells can differentiate into retinal organoids with all subtypes of retina, which provides huge promise for treating these diseases. Before these methods can be realized, RD animal models are required to evaluate the safety and efficacy of stem cell therapy and to develop the surgical tools and procedures for cell transplantation in patients. This study involved the development of a monkey model of RD with controllable lesion sites, which can be rapidly prepared for the study of preclinical stem cell therapy among other applications.

Sodium nitroprusside (SNP) in three doses was delivered into the monkey eye by subretinal injection (SI), and normal saline was applied as control. Structural and functional changes of the retinas were evaluated via multimodal imaging techniques and multifocal electroretinography (mfERG) before and after the treatment. Histological examination was performed to identify the target layer of the affected retina. The health status of monkeys was monitored during the experiment.

Well-defined lesions with various degrees of retinal degeneration were induced at the posterior pole of retina as early as 7 days after SNP SI. The damage of SNP was dose dependent. In general, 0.05 mM SNP caused mild structural changes in the retina; 0.1 mM SNP led to the loss of outer retinal layers, including the outer plexiform layer (OPL), outer nuclear layer (ONL), and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE); while 0.2 mM SNP impacted the entire layer of the retina and choroid. MfERG showed reduced amplitude in the damaged region. The structural and functional damages were not recovered at 7-month follow-up.

A rapidly induced lesion site-controllable retinal degeneration monkey model was established by the subretinal administration of SNP, of which the optimal dose is 0.1 mM. This monkey model mimics the histological changes of advanced RDs and provides a valuable platform for preclinical assessment of stem cell therapy for RDs.