Purpose

While mouse models of dry eye disease (DED) have been developed, studies evaluating the role of the meibomian glands limited by the inability to temporally document changes. In this report we describe the development of a novel mouse transillumination meibography device and assess the ability of this device to detect age-related changes in the meibomian glands of young and old mice.

Methods

The mouse meibography device was comprised of a 3 mm wide right angle prism attached to broad spectrum light source by an optical fiber. Eyelids were then pulled over the prism using double tooth forceps and imaged using a stereomicroscope and low light level camera. Meibomian glands from four young and four old male, BALB/c mice were then imaged and analyzed using ImageJ.

Results

In young mice, meibography documented the presence of 7–8 meibomian glands appearing as black and distinct eyelid structures with the length shorter in the lower eyelid compared to the upper eyelids. Eyelids of old mice showed apparent dropout of meibomian glands along with smaller and more irregularly shaped acini. The mean acini area of one meibomian gland was 0.088 ± 0.025 mm² in young mice and 0.080 ± 0.020 mm² in old mice (p = 0.564), but the Meibomian gland density was significantly lower in older mice (41.7 ± 6.4%, 27.3 ± 4.2%) (p = 0.021).

Conclusion

We have developed an in vivo meibography device that may prove useful in sequentially documenting changes during development of meibomian gland dysfunction and following treatment.

中文翻译：

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一种用于小鼠睑板腺体内成像的新型透照睑板成像装置

目的

虽然干眼病 (DED) 小鼠模型已经开发出来，但评估睑板腺作用的研究因无法暂时记录变化而受到限制。在本报告中，我们描述了一种新型小鼠透照睑板成像装置的开发，并评估了该装置检测年轻和年老小鼠睑板腺与年龄相关的变化的能力。

方法

小鼠眼睑检查装置由一个 3 毫米宽的直角棱镜组成，该棱镜通过光纤连接到广谱光源。然后使用双齿镊子将眼睑拉到棱镜上，并使用立体显微镜和低光相机进行成像。然后使用 ImageJ 对四只年轻和四只年老雄性 BALB/c 小鼠的睑板腺进行成像和分析。

结果

在年轻小鼠中，睑板腺造影记录了 7-8 个睑板腺的存在，这些睑板腺呈黑色且具有明显的眼睑结构，下眼睑的长度比上眼睑的长度短。年老小鼠的眼睑显示出睑板腺明显脱落，腺泡也更小、形状更不规则。年轻小鼠的一个睑板腺的平均腺泡面积为 0.088 ± 0.025 mm ²，老年小鼠的睑板腺平均面积为 0.080 ± 0.020 mm ² (p = 0.564)，但老年小鼠的睑板腺密度明显较低 (41.7 ± 6.4%, 27.3 ± 4.2%）（p = 0.021）。

结论

我们开发了一种体内睑板记录仪，该设备可能有助于连续记录睑板腺功能障碍发展过程中和治疗后的变化。