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Updated: May 14, 2026
Inducement and Evaluation of a Murine Model of Experimental Myopia
Published on: January 22, 2019
Development of an Optical Defocus-Induced Myopia Model for Guinea Pigs Using Rigid Gas Permeable Contact Lenses
So Goto1, Sarah Singh, Qiurong Zhu
1Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of California (S.G., S.S., S.A.V., C.W.), Berkeley, CA, USA; Department of Ophthalmology (S.G.), Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan; Schepens Eye Research Institute (Q.Z.), Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Objectives:
Guinea pigs are a widely used mammalian model for studies of myopia and early ocular growth regulation more generally. The study reported here covers the development of rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses (CLs) for guinea pigs, as an alternative to spectacle lenses for imposing optical defocus, recognized as an important modulator of eye elongation in young animals.
Methods:
New Zealand pigmented guinea pigs ( Cavia porcellus ) were used in this study, with the RGP lens design based on developmental corneal shape profiles derived from anterior segment optical coherence tomography data collected across a range of ages, as typically encountered in such studies. The validity of this CL-based approach was examined in a follow-up study, in which the ocular effects of -10, 0, and +5 diopters [D] RGP lenses, applied as continuous monocular optical defocus treatments, were tracked over 2 weeks, with the fellow untreated eyes of experimental animals serving as contralateral controls. Pretreatment baseline spherical equivalent refractive errors (RE) and axial length (AL) of both eyes were measured, along with follow-up weekly measurements over the wearing period.
Results:
There were no differences in any of the ocular parameters between the three groups at baseline, while after two weeks of lens wear, there were significant differences between the -10 D group compared with 0 D and +5 D groups in both RE ( P <0.001) and AL ( P <0.05). Importantly, myopia was observed in all of the guinea pigs fitted with -10 D lenses, and overall, eyes fitted with -10 D lenses showed increased ALs and relative myopia compared with their fellows, while those fitted with +5 D lenses showed reduced ALs and relative hyperopia; the plano lens group fell in between (treated-fellow eyes: -10, 0, and +5 D lenses: -8.25, -1.0, and +0.5 D, and +0.16, +0.08, and -0.02 mm, respectively). Also importantly, no significant CL-related adverse ocular effects were observed.
Conclusions:
This study provides proof of principle that defocusing RGP CLs are a feasible alternative to spectacle lenses for studies of eye growth regulation in young guinea pigs and experimental myopia specifically, with potential application in investigations into novel approaches for controlling myopia progression and underlying mechanisms.
