Eye trabecular meshwork engineered models and perfusion systems for the investigation of glaucoma disease

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world according to the World Health Organization. It is characterized by the progressive degeneration of the optic nerve and despite the significant advances in the field, a cure for glaucoma remains to be found. The trabecular meshwork (TM) has been identified as the key tissue that drives pressure regulation in eye. In this review, we look over the main role of the aforementioned meshwork, as well as its outflow physiology and pathology. Research in the field of glaucoma has mostly progressed by employing animal models. However, these models are often expensive, cumbersome and exhibit a high intra-species variability. The lack of 3D in vitro models complicates the study of TM pressure regulation mechanisms, which makes it difficult to make progress in glaucoma research. In this paper, we review the time evolution of glaucoma models and discuss the ways in which tissue engineering fabrication techniques can be applied to create an artificial TM that serves as a 3D in vitro model. We also study possible outflow evaluation systems that are valid for both scaffold testing and drug screening, which may improve the understanding of TM biology.