Dietary factors and myopia development: a novel bionic animal model approach

To establish a bionic animal myopia model by altering the dietary structure of guinea pigs and assess the impact of dietary factors on myopia development. Guinea pigs were assigned to three groups: Normal Control (NC), High-Sugar (HS) group and High-Sugar High-Fat (HSF) group and fed by standard diet, high-sugar diet, and high-sugar high-fat diet respectively. Successful modeling was defined as a diopter change of -1.00 D or more or an axial length increase of 0.4 mm or greater. Post-modeling after 4 weeks, the HS and HSF groups reverted to a standard diet with the same biometric measurements. By the second week, 54 eyes in the HS group and 48 eyes in the HSF group (consist of bilateral eyes from individual guinea pigs) met the modeling criteria for refractive error and axial length. Prominent increases in vitreous chamber depth were observed in model groups. Scleral ultrastructural examination revealed abundant thin collagen fibers, uneven fiber diameters, and markedly enlarged interfiber spacing in model groups. Upon returning to a standard diet, the rate of myopic refractive shift and ocular axial elongation in the HS and HSF groups significantly slowed. A myopic animal model was established by feeding guinea pigs high-sugar and high-sugar high-fat diets, after adjusting the diet to a conventional feed significantly slowed the myopia process. Not applicable.