Purpose
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of necrostain-1 on cell death of retinal pigment epithelium and photoreceptor in rabbits
Methods
In this study, we used pigmented rabbit (3kg, Male, Chinchilla). The retinal degeneration was induced sodium iodate (60mg/kg, IV). Nectostatin-1 (7 Cl-O-Nec1) was administered topically, 2times per day for 1week. After 1 week, electroretinograms (ERGs) were performed for functional test. And then, retinal funduscopies were performed for geographic atrophy. And the rabbit eyes were enucleated for histological examination. To observe cell death, TUNEL assay and electron microscopy were performed
Results
Sodium iodate induced cell death in rabbit photoreceptor and retinal pigment epithelium. The loss of A-wave and geographic atrophy were observed in sodium iodate injected rabbit eye. The Nec1 eye drop was applied 1 day before sodium iodate injection. In nec-1 pretreated group, the A-wave was remained compare with non-treated group. The cell death and geographic atrophy was inhibited by NEC-1 pretreatment
Conclusions
In this study, we confirmed rabbit model as a suitable animal model for the functional study. And the necroptosis inhibitor NEC-1 shows inhibition retinal degeneration by sodium iodate. And also, we confirmed retinal function in Nec-1 treated retina. Thus, these finding suggest that the Nec-1 is a therapeutic drug for retinal degeneration