Diabetic retinopathy (DR) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are the two leading causes of blindness in adults in the industrialized world. Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a major cause of newborn blindness in premature infants maintained by oxygen supplementation during the postnatal period. ? In each of these diseases, ischemia resulting from loss of blood flow induces pathological neovascularization in the eye. There are several animal models of eye neovascularization (e.g. the corneal pocket assay); however, drug screening using these models is time-consuming, requires complicated surgery, and can be done in only a few animals. In addition, the complexity of eye neovascularization related diseases necessitates the development of new animal models for therapeutic drug assessment. ? This SBIR aims to develop a quantitative in vivo zebrafish neovascularization animal model for screening drugs for human eye diseases. The conserved early development of zebrafish and human eye vasculature supports the zebrafish as a model for studying vascular diseases affecting the eye. In addition to developmental progression, angiogenesis and vasculogenesis are conserved between zebrafish and mammals at the molecular level. ? ?
