A New Method to Visualize Retinal Deep Vascular Layers Using Whole-Mount Tissue Preparations

Julia Migliorati; Georgia Zarkada

doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-4706-6_10

A New Method to Visualize Retinal Deep Vascular Layers Using Whole-Mount Tissue Preparations

Methods Mol Biol. 2025:2956:111-118. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4706-6_10.

Authors

Julia Migliorati¹, Georgia Zarkada²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiology & Neurobiology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
² Department of Physiology & Neurobiology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA. Georgia.zarkada@uconn.edu.

Abstract

The mouse retina is a widely used model to study sprouting angiogenesis. Most blood vessel staining protocols focus on the superficial vascular layer. Here, we describe a method to obtain thick sections of retina whole-mounts that allow for detailed visualization of diving vascular sprouts, and deep and intermediate-layer angiogenesis. This protocol does not require extra tissue processing and can be coupled with any previously optimized protocol for retina whole-mount staining.

Keywords: Angiogenic sprouting; Deep retinal plexus; Neuroretina vascularization; Retina sectioning; Retina staining; Retina whole-mount protocol.

MeSH terms

Animals
Mice
Neovascularization, Physiologic
Retina* / cytology
Retinal Vessels* / cytology
Staining and Labeling / methods

Grants and funding

R00 EY029375/EY/NEI NIH HHS/United States