Changes in murine hyalocytes are valuable early indicators of ocular disease

Abstract

PURPOSE. The distribution, density, and phenotype of hyalocytes or vitreous macrophages in mouse eyes was examined during normal aging and in models of background diabetic retinopathy, retinal vascular proliferation, and exposure to TLR4 and TLR9 ligands. METHODS. The phenotype and density of hyalocytes were investigated in retinal and ciliary body wholemounts of normal wild-type (WT; C57BL/6) mice at 7, 17, and 120 weeks of age, Ins2 Akita mice, transgenic Kimba mice (VEGF-induced retinal neovascularization), and WT mice 24 hours after single intraperitoneal injection with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or 1 week after three identical doses administered 2 weeks apart. Another group of mice each r..