Abstract
Purpose:
This study was undertaken to investigate the suppressing effects of orally administered botanical drug ALS-L1023 (ALS) on choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in a laser-induced rat model.
Methods:
The CNV was induced by 577 nm diode laser photocoagulation in a total of 32 male Brown Norway rats. The ALS 50-, 100 mg/kg, or vehicle was administered orally starting at 3 days before and once daily after laser treatment. Fourteen days after laser treatment, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and fluorescein angiography (FA) were performed to evaluate size and leakage of CNV and eyes were enucleated for choroidal flat mounts and histologic evaluation.
Results:
Dimensions of CNV lesion including CNV area, CNV thickness, and CNV/choroid thickness ratio were significantly reduced in the ALS group, in a dose-dependent manner, compared with the control group (CNV area: 39,948.9 ± 9,811.8 µm2 vs. 28,959.7 ± 13,124.0 µm2 vs. 15,775.0 ± 5,687.3 µm2, P < 0.001; CNV thickness: 75.38 ± 6.39 µm vs. 66.33 ± 8.11 µm vs. 54.95 ± 5.23 µm, P < 0.001). The proportion of CNV lesions showing clinically significant fluorescein leakage was also lower in the ALS group compared with the control group (53.4% vs. 39.1% vs. 8.2%, P < 0.001).
Conclusions:
Our data revealed that systemic administration of ALS suppressed laser-induced CNV formation in rats. Therefore, ALS may be clinically beneficial as a potential candidate drugs for the treatment of exudative age-related macular degeneration.
Keywords: 453 choroid: neovascularization •
412 age-related macular degeneration •
503 drug toxicity/drug effects