Abstract
Purpose:
The purpose of this study is to determine if endogenous and exogenous administered Lactoferrin (LF) can protect the retina from choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in the murine laser model of CNV. Endogenous murine LF was evaluated by comparing the response of Wild Type (WT) vs Lactoferrin knock out (LFKO) mice in the CNV laser model. The potential protective effect of exogenous LF was evaluated following intraperitoneal (IP) administration of bovine lactoferrin (bLF) in LFKO mice.
Methods:
Four 532-nm argon laser spots were placed between the retinal vessels of each WT and LFKO mouse. At Day 7, CNV was measured both clinically and microscopically. Fluorescein Angiography (FA) was performed to grade the lesions based on the degree of hyperfluorescence/leakage from images taken using a Micron III (Phoenix Research Lab Inc) color digital camera. The CNV lesions were imaged using an Olympus FV1000 confocal microscope and analysis of the images was performed manually using Image J software. The first experiment compared a group of WT to LFKO mice with no treatment. The second experiment compared a group of LFKO mice treated with intraperitoneal (IP) injections of bLF to a control group of LFKO mice treated with PBS.
Results:
Experiment #1: WT mice demonstrated a 31% smaller lesion volume (p=0.015) and 14% smaller height (p= 0.009) than LFKO mice (n=5/ group). Experiment #2: LFKO mice treated with bLF demonstrated a 26% smaller lesion volume (p=0.053) and 13% smaller lesion height (p=0.051) compared with the LFKO mice treated with PBS (n=8 bLF, n=9 PBS). FA demonstrated clinically significant leakage in 13% of the lesions in the LFKO group treated with PBS and 2% of the lesions in the LFKO treated with bLF.
Conclusions:
Our results demonstrate the endogenous and exogenous LF anti-angiogenic activity in reducing the volume of the lesions in the CNV laser- induced animal model. Further study is needed to assess the LF clinical utility in the treatment of eye diseases in which neovascularization is involved.
Keywords: 453 choroid: neovascularization