Customized In Vivo Ocular Models ace

- By Animal Species
- By Disease

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* Services of Interest: Customized Animal Models of Retinal Diseases
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* All of our services and products are intended for preclinical research use only and cannot be used to diagnose, treat or manage patients.
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Customized Animal Models of Retinal Diseases

Ace Therapeutics provides tailored retinal disease animal model construction services to support your research from target validation to candidate selection. Our scientists develop physiologically relevant models that recapitulate key disease mechanisms in a controlled, reproducible setting, providing a robust tool for rigorous efficacy evaluation, biomarker exploration, and systematic assessment of dosing and delivery strategies aligned with specific study objectives.

Pathophysiology of Retinal Disease

Retinal diseases arise from disruption of the highly organized posterior segment, where the neurosensory retina, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), choroid, and vitreous work together to capture and transmit visual information. Disturbances in photoreceptors, RPE, Müller glia, microglia, and the retinal vasculature, particularly within macular and peripapillary regions, drive neurodegeneration, vascular leakage, gliosis, and progressive loss of function. Lipid and retinoid dysregulation further compromise membrane integrity and cell survival. These interconnected mechanisms remain an active focus of experimental research aimed at clarifying disease progression and identifying potential targets for novel retinal therapeutics.

Fig. 1. Anatomical structure of the human eye. Fig. 1. Anatomy of the human eye. (Gabrielle PH, 2022)

Explore Our Animal Models of Retinal Diseases

Rigorous preclinical retinal research relies on experimental models that capture relevant species differences and disease mechanisms. Our customized animal models of retinal diseases encompass inherited dystrophies, vascular occlusive and leakage phenotypes, and broader degenerative conditions. Each retinal disease model is carefully developed and validated to recapitulate defined aspects of human retinal pathology. Whether your program focuses on gene-based, biologics, or small-molecule approaches, we provide well-characterized animal models to support discovery and preclinical evaluation.

Retinal Disease Animal Model Evaluation Services

We provide integrated study designs that combine complementary in vivo and ex vivo endpoints to generate consistent readouts across retinal anatomy, visual function, and underlying biology, supporting mechanistic investigation and preclinical development.

Service Category	Available Services
*In Vivo* Imaging and Structural Assessment**	Optical coherence tomography (OCT) to measure retinal and choroidal thickness, outer nuclear layer integrity, and fluid or detachment. Color fundus imaging to document retinal appearance, vessel changes, hemorrhages, exudates, and optic nerve head status over time. Fluorescein angiography to visualize retinal and choroidal vasculature, vascular leakage, nonperfusion, and neovascular complexes.
Functional Assessment of Retinal and Visual Pathways	Full-field electroretinography (ERG) to evaluate global rod and cone function, including amplitudes and implicit times under scotopic and photopic conditions. Pattern ERG and visual evoked potentials (VEP) to probe retinal ganglion cell (RGC) and post-retinal pathway function in neurodegenerative models.
Ex Vivo and Molecular Characterization	Histology and immunohistochemistry to assess retinal layer thickness, photoreceptor and RGC counts, synaptic integrity, gliosis, and vascular alterations. Biochemical and molecular analyses to quantify cytokines, neurotrophic factors, oxidative stress markers, and other pathway-specific readouts relevant to the intended mechanism-of-action.

At Ace Therapeutics, we support preclinical retinal research by combining customized animal models of retinal diseases with a range of structural and functional assessments in tailored study designs. Our services support mechanistic studies in retinal disease models and enable preclinical efficacy evaluation of test articles from early discovery through candidate evaluation. To learn more about how our retinal disease animal models and study designs can support your program, please contact us.

References

Horie S, Giulia C, Esmaeilkhanian H, et al. Microperimetry in Retinal Diseases. Asia Pac J Ophthalmol (Phila). 2023 Mar-Apr; 12(2): 211-227.
Gabrielle PH. Lipid metabolism and retinal diseases. Acta Ophthalmol. 2022 Sep; 100 Suppl 269: 3-43.
Mead B, Tomarev S. Extracellular vesicle therapy for retinal diseases. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2020 Nov; 79: 100849.

For Research Use Only.