Short term optical defocus perturbs normal developmental shifts in retina/RPE protein abundance

Myopia (short-sightedness) affects approximately 1.4 billion people worldwide, many of whom will become blind from secondary ophthalmic conditions. The pathophysiology of myopia has been investigated by rearing young animals with monocular negative lenses or occluders that stimulate excessive ocular growth. Although a wide range of gene and protein expression changes have been identified in these myopia models, how these expression responses vary across different ocular growth conditions (including normal ocular development and hyperopia induced by positive lenses) remains poorly understood. Accordingly, this study has examined the trajectory of protein pathway expression shifts during normal development, and lens-induced myopia and hyperopia, in the widely used chick model.