Abstract
For decades, the murine model has been the “gold standard” in retinal research; however, recent advances in retina-on-a-chip and retinal organoid technologies that lack many of the drawbacks of using mice are poised to supplement or even supplant the mouse in modeling human disease or evaluating prospective therapies. However, much work remains to be done in further developing these tools. To create better in vitro models, an atomic force microscope-based lithography device optimized for retinal tissue engineering was designed and constructed. High resolution computer controlled piezoelectric actuators were installed and programmed with control software written in IGOR Pro. The device was calibrated for resolution and functionality by patterning gold coated glass petri dishes and imaging them with scanning electron microscopy. Feature patterning modalities for guiding retinal ganglion cell axons were then developed, including patterning on soft gels. Finally, primary mouse retinal ganglion cells were seeded onto a patterned petri dish. It was shown that features patterned using this custom atomic force microscope-based device could be successfully created, and were compatible with neurons. These methods could potentially be very useful in the emerging field of retina-on-a-chip science.