Dry Eye Diseasea and The Canine Models

Dry eye disease (DED) is a prevalent chronic ocular surface disorder characterized by decreased tear secretion and altered tear film composition. Chronic irritation of the abnormally lubricated ocular surface can lead to conjunctival epithelial keratosis, conjunctival goblet cell loss, corneal epithelial defects, and even blindness. To date, many DED models have been developed using mice, rabbits, and pigs. Although there are fewer reports describing DED in canines, the current study demonstrated clinical similarities between canine spontaneous keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) and human DED. Canines represent attractive idiopathic disease animal models. Key benefits of using canines as disease models include the presence of spontaneous disease as well as common environmental and lifestyle risk factors that may arise in human patients. Additionally, the larger eye size of canines compared to mice provides benefits for ocular surface diagnostic tests and the collection and study of tears and mucin, which is difficult in DED research. In conclusion, spontaneous DED in canines can serve as a model of human disease and translate into a powerful tool for evaluating novel treatments for DED.

Fig. 1. Multifocal punctate fluorescein staining in humans and canines. (Hisey EA, et al., 2023)

Service Overview

Ace Therapeutics provides a spontaneous canine model of keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS), namely the DED model, to global customers. This model exhibits features similar to those of human Sjogren's syndrome, with clinicopathologic findings of decreased apoptosis of lymphocytes infiltrating the lacrimal gland (LG) and increased apoptosis of lacrimal acinar and conjunctival epithelial cells. Our spontaneous canine DED model is an aqueous deficiency model that has been used extensively by our clients to develop therapeutic interventions for dry eye disease, such as trials of topical application of cyclosporin A.

In addition, Ace Therapeutics also provides a canine model of DED with surgical intervention, namely the main lacrimal gland ablation model. Our researchers induce a DED model by surgically removing the canine orbital lacrimal gland and total removal of the third eyelid of the left eye. This model is also a dehydration model, and the removal of the orbital lacrimal glands in canines induces KCS two weeks later and lasts for 6 weeks postoperatively. Decreased tear production, conjunctival hyperemia, and persistent secretion accumulation are the main clinical features.

It is worth mentioning that our surgically induced canine DED model is easy to obtain and remains stable for a relatively long time.

Available Support Services

In order to ensure the reliability of model development, our researchers assess whether the dry eye symptoms persisted by measuring the following indicators after stopping the induction, including but not limited to:

• Tear volume (the schirmer test). 
• Corneal slit lamp imaging.
• Tear break-up time.
• Corneal fluorescein staining.
• Histological examination (cornea, lacrimal gland, and hastelloy gland).
• Molecular biology.

Thanks to an in-depth understanding of the pathogenesis of DED, Ace Therapeutics provides two proven dry-eye canine models for customers around the world. If you are interested in our services or need more detailed information, please feel free to contact us. Our experienced scientists are ready to help you!

References

1. Hisey EA, Galor A, Leonard BC. A comparative review of evaporative dry eye disease and meibomian gland dysfunction in canines and humans. Vet Ophthalmol. 2023, 26 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):16-30.
2. Huang W, Tourmouzis K, Perry H, et al. Animal models of dry eye disease: Useful, varied and evolving (Review). Exp Ther Med. 2021, 22(6):1394.

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