Accelerate your lead compound selection by understanding their mode of action in functional retinal tissue
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Complex functional human retina model
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Well-characterised and reproducible
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Ready-to-use
Light responsive retinal organoids for accurate prediction of clinical outcomes
The retinal organoids recapitulate the complex structure of the human retina with laminar cell organisation mimicking embryonic development. They contain the outer photoreceptor segment of the retina that responds to light.
Available analytical readouts
Immunofluorescence analyses
mRNA quantification by RT-qPCR
Transcriptomic analysis by single-cell RNA sequencing
In vitro retinal organoid differentiation follows the embryonic development timeline, spanning 150 to 210 days. The temporal order of retinogenesis is comparable to in vivo, recapitulating critical features of foetal retinal tissue including the laminar organisation of cell types.
The organoids include retinal ganglion cells, horizontal cells, amacrine cells and photoreceptors (including cone and rod photoreceptors). Depending on the cell type of interest, the retinal organoids can be used at different stages of development (usually between D60 and D210). For example, retinal ganglion cells are more prevalent at D60 whereas the photoreceptors have a peak expression at later time points.
Schematic representation of the retina
The differentiation process is fully characterised and monitored through the analysis of biomarkers specific for each cell type. For example, for cone photoreceptors, we monitor the expression of OPNSW, OPNMW, OPNLW, ARR3, RXRG; for rod photoreceptors we use RHO and NRL and for retinal ganglion cells we follow MATH5 (ATOH7) and BRN3 (POU4F2). Our organoids are validated for many applications.
Characteristics of iPSC-derived retinal organoids:
Size: ~1.3 mm in diameter
Number of cells: ~ 40,000
Cell types: retinal ganglion cells, horizontal cells, amacrine cell and photoreceptors (including cone and rod photoreceptors)
Structure: fully-stratified, similar to the human retina
Main characteristics: formation of primitive photoreceptor outer segments, recapitulate retinogenesis in vitro
Other characteristics: responsive to known toxins, functional and responsive to light, all cell layers allow drug permeation
Light-driven spiking activity recorded from presumed ON-Centre retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and OFF-Centre RGCs. In the raster plot, each small vertical bar indicates the time stamp of a spike, where each row represents a different RGC. The left half illustrates the activity before stimulus onset and separated by the red line, the right half illustrates the activity when exposed to light.
Localization and distribution of photoreceptors (RCVRN, green) and retinal ganglion cells (SNCG, red) in retinal organoids at d150. Nuclear DAPI staining (blue)
Localization and distribution of Müller glia cells (CRALBP, red) in retinal organoids at d180. Nuclear DAPI staining (blue).
Presence of rod photoreceptors (RHO+) at different stages of development in iPSC-derived retinal organoids. ‘d’ refers to ‘days of differentiation’.
Presence of green and red cone photoreceptors (OPN1MW/LW+) at different stages of development in iPSC-derived retinal organoids. ‘d’ refers to ‘days of differentiation’.
