In recent years, the prevalence of myopia has increased worldwide, and it is said that one-third of human beings have myopia.Even in Japan, the prevalence of severe myopia is estimated to be about 3% for people over 1 years old, and it is reported that it is the fourth leading cause of blindness.
Myopia can lead to visual impairment as well as inconvenience in daily life.However, the detailed mechanism for the onset and progression of myopia is still unknown.

　One of the causes that has significantly delayed myopia research is the lack of a suitable animal model of disease.For both chicks and tree shrews, which have been often used as myopia models, the establishment of gene modification technology that is indispensable for elucidating the pathological condition at the cellular and molecular levels is insufficient.On the other hand, at present, the most diverse and easily genetically modifiable mice have not been established for reliable myopia.

　This research group uses a 3D printer to create eyeglasses exclusively for mice, and by combining them with a new technology called a whole-eye optical interference tomography that can measure changes in axial length with high accuracy, it guides mice to the assumed myopia intensity. Succeeded in constructing an experimental model.

　In this model mouse, the characteristics of human myopia with an elongated axial length could be sufficiently reproduced, and the myopia suppression phenomenon of atropine ophthalmic instillation, which has been reported to have an effect of suppressing the progression of myopia, was also reproduced.This model is expected to greatly contribute to the elucidation of the onset / progression mechanism of myopia and the development of new preventive / therapeutic methods for myopia.

Paper information:[Scientific Reports] A highly efficient murine model of experimental myopia