Abstract
Purpose: :
Subretinal fibrosis causes damage to visual acuity, especially if the lesion is in the macula, which is frequently observed in advanced age-related macular degeneration. We recently established an animal model of focal subretinal fibrosis. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of toll-like receptors in our model.
Methods: :
8- to 10-week-old female mice were used in all experiments. We used C57BL/6 (B6) mice, TLR2 knock out (KO) mice, and TLR4KO mice (all B6 background). Macrophage-rich peritoneal exudative cells (PECs) from B6 mice were inoculated into the subretinal space. Seven days later, the size of subretinal fibrotic tissue was evaluated by the adhered area of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) positive retinal glial cells on choroidal flat mounts.
Results: :
Subretinal fibrous tissue was observed by fundus scope in PEC-inoculated mice after seven days. The tissue was consisted of monotonous and low cell-density area, which expressed a-SMA with collagen synthesis. Compared to B6 mice, the fibrotic area was significantly reduced in both TLR2 KO mice and TLR4 KO mice.
Conclusions: :
Activated macrophages formed subretinal fibrosis when they were placed in the subretinal space. TLR2 and TLR4 on these macrophages may play a role of regulating fibrosis.
Keywords: choroid: neovascularization • age-related macular degeneration • inflammation