The chicken retina as an experimental model for investigation of central nervous lesions

The aim of this study was to establish an experimental model to investigate neuronal lesions. The retina is an easy accessible model system to study central nervous system (CNS) disorders or neuronal effective drugs. It consists of only a few characteristic layers and is easy to prepare as an intact piece of tissue. In the retina the typical cell swelling of a developing lesion is accompanied by a very strong intrinsic optical signal (IOS) which is simultaneous with the electrical signal and is based on changes in light scattering. The IOS can be easily observed during the whole experiment and can be recorded with non-invasive optical methods for further quantification of damage. In the developed model, the lesions are elicited electrically with a tungsten microelectrode (0.1 M[omega]). The degree of damage depends on the magnitude of the stimulus. The parameters for the quantification of damage are the area and the brightness of the affected tissue. The growth of the lesions can be influenced with drugs added to the perfusion system. In the present study we tested, glycerol, mannitol and ketamine which are known to be neuroprotective in other animal models.