Structural and functional parameters of adult Macaca fascicularis retina

Objective

To measure the retinal structural and functional parameters of adult Macaca fascicularis, and explore the similarity of the retinal structural and functional parameters between non-human primates and normal human retinas.

Methods

Six eyes of 3 5-year-old adult Macaca fascicularis were examined by in vivo detection including color fundus photography, retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) and electroretinogram (ERG) to determine the thickness of the inner/outer retina at the fovea and 1 000/2 000 μm away from the nasal, temporal, superior and inferior regions of the fovea, the thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), the area of optic disc, the area of optic cup, the area ratio of cup to disc and the biological parameters of flash ERG.Differences in the above parameters between left and right eyes were analyzed.The similarity of parameters between Macaca fascicularis and human was compared with reference to published literature.The use and care of animals complied with the Regulation on the Management of Experimental Animals.The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Hubei Topgene Biotechnology (NO.IACUC-2019-012).

Results

The foveal thickness, optic disc area, cup-disc area ratio, and average RNFL thickness in normal adult Macaca fascicularis were (252.31±4.79)μm, (1.89±0.05)mm², 0.14±0.01, and (103.53±0.58)μm, respectively.The b-wave amplitude of dark-adapted 0.01 ERG was (66.75±7.29)μV.The a- and b-wave amplitudes of dark-adapted 3.0 ERG response were (57.15±15.01) and (122.10±25.51)μV, respectively.The a- and b-wave amplitudes, the amplitude of oscillation potentials, and the latency of dark-adapted 10.0 ERG response were (72.98±20.14)μV, (131.67±13.78)μV, (49.98±10.08)μV, and (30.02±5.76)ms, respectively.The a- and b-wave amplitudes of light-adapted 3.0 ERG were (9.16±2.75) and (40.43±5.57)μV, respectively.The latency and the amplitude of the light-adapted 30 Hz flicker was (26.61±1.19)ms and (24.72±5.10)μV, respectively.There was no significant difference in the parameters between left and right eyes (all at P>0.05). The retinal thickness in central fovea, mean RNFL thickness, waveform and amplitude of ERG of Macaca fascicularis were similar to normal human.

Conclusions

The structure and function of the retina of adult Macaca fascicularis are similar to those of normal humans.As a laboratory animal for preclinical drug research, in vivo studies of Macaca fascicularis can refer to normal human retinal parameters.

Macaca fascicularis; Retina; Photography, fundus; Optical coherence tomography; Electroretinogram