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Method Article

Retinal Cup Extraction from Mouse: A Surgical Procedure to Obtain Intact Retinal Cup from Mouse Eye

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July 8th, 2025

In This Article

Abstract

Source: Jiang, K. et al. Determination of Mitochondrial Respiration and Glycolysis in Ex Vivo Retinal Tissue Samples. J. Vis. Exp (2021)

This video describes a protocol to isolate the retinal cup without the outer covering layers from the eyeball of a mouse. The extracted retinal tissue can help study various metabolic pathways occurring in the retinal cells.

Protocol

All procedures involving animal models have been reviewed by the local institutional animal care committee and the JoVE veterinary review board.

1. Retinal cup dissection

  1. Euthanize a mouse by CO2 asphyxiation following institutional guidelines on euthanasia.
    NOTE: Do not leave the animal in a CO2 chamber longer than the time needed for euthanasia.
  2. Enucleate eyes and place into ice-old 1x PBS buffer in a petri-dish and then place it under a dissection microscope.
  3. Carefully remove, by cutting with microscissors, the extra rectus muscles a....

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Disclosures

No conflicts of interest declared.

Materials

List of materials used in this article
NameCompanyCatalog NumberComments
1X PBSThermo Fisher14190-144
30-gauge needleBD Precision Glide305106
Biopsy puncher, 1 mmIntegra Miltex33-31AA
CO2 asphyxiation chamber
Dissection forceps-Dumont #5Fine Science Tools11251-10Stright tip
Dissection forceps-Dumont #7Fine Science Tools11274-20Curved tip
Dissection microscope
Graefe forcepsFine Science Tools11051-10Curved, Serrated tip
MicroscissorsFine Science Tools15004-08Curved tip

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