【Animal Modeling】-The basic research progress of tree shrew in ophthalmology

  Treeshrews (treeshrews, Tupaia belangeri) belong to the order Scandentia, Tapaiidae and Tupaia. They are small mammals resembling squirrels and are widely distributed in South Asia and Southeast Asia And the southern and southwestern regions of our country. Because it is highly similar to primates and even humans in terms of physiological anatomy, neurodevelopment, hepatitis virus infection characteristics, and psychological stress patterns, it is mainly used for research on viral hepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma, myopia, and psychosocial stress. .

  tree shrews have large eyes, the eyeballs are nearly round, and the outer part of the eyeball has a larger curvature, except for the lateral part, which is covered by an opaque sclera, and the optic nerve leaves the eyeball from the inner side of the eyeball. The front of the eyeball is the cornea. A round iris can be seen through the cornea. The pupil of the tree shrew is always round. The rearmost side of the eyeball is the retina full of cones and rods. Because tree shrews have cone cells on the retina, they can distinguish red, yellow, and green tones. Some studies have shown that the tree shrews have initially binocular vision or stereo vision. The production of binocular vision and color vision in tree shrews is an important evidence of the developed vision of tree shrews. In addition, the use of traditional and conventional laboratory animals (experimental rodents and non-human primates, etc.) to study human eye diseases has encountered many difficulties, as well as the depletion of non-human primate resources and ethical issues in recent years. Development is urgently needed. Economical and alternative laboratory animals are used for research, among which the tree shrew is particularly eye-catching. Because tree shrews not only have a special evolutionary status, but also have some extremely important characteristics, such as short reproductive cycle, easier artificial feeding, lower economic costs, etc., making it a good animal model for human disease research. With the completion of tree shrew genome sequencing, tree shrews will be more widely used in human disease models. This article reviews the research progress of tree shrews in ophthalmology.