Sodium iodate induced retinal degeneration: new insights from an old model

Studies on the selective retinal degeneration induced by sodium iodate(Na IO3)date back to 1941;Sorsby(1941)described the effect of intravenously injected Na IO3solution on the rabbit retina.Since then,Na IO3-induced retinal degeneration has been described in different mammalian species including sheep,rabbit,rat and mouse with varying doses and routes of administration.At the present time,the murine Na IO3model is the most widely used because it results in reproducible,patchy retinal degeneration(Figure 1)and can be studied in a wide variety of wild type and genetic knockout strains.Many