Abstract
Purpose: :
To investigate the effects of subconjunctival injection of anti-rat VEGF antibody on retinal neovascularization (NV) and percent avascular areas (%AVA) in a rat model of oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR).
Methods: :
Neonatal Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to daily cycles of 80% oxygen (20.5 h), ambient air (0.5 h), and progressive return to 80% oxygen (3 h) until postnatal day 12 (P12), then the rats were placed in ambient air until P18. At P12, the right eyes were received subconjunctival injections of 0.1 ug or 1.0 ug anti-rat VEGF antibody, or 1.0 ug Goat IgG as controls. All fellow eyes were noninjected. At P18, rats were sacrificed, and retinas were flatmounted, and then stained with ADPase. The retinal neovascularization was scored (NV score), and avascular areas were measured as a percent of total retinal area (%AVA) using ImageJ (NIH). Statistical analyses were performed with unpaired t-test.
Results: :
The NV scores in 0.1 ug (4.3 ± 1.1, n=13) and 1.0 ug anti-rat VEGF antibody (2.3 ± 1.0, n=12, P=0.013) were significantly lower than those in 1.0 ug Goat IgG (6.7 ± 1.3, n=10). The %AVA in 0.1 ug (15 ± 3%, n=13) and 1.0 ug anti-rat VEGF antibody (13 ± 3%, n=12, P=0.039) were significantly lower than those in 1.0 ug Goat IgG (25 ± 4%, n=10). The fellow eyes were similarly reduced in both NV score and %AVA.
Conclusions: :
Subconjunctival injection of anti-VEGF antibody may be useful injection route because it has possibility to reduce local complications compared to intravitreous injection. However, careful attention should be paid to the systemic side effects.
Keywords: retinal neovascularization • drug toxicity/drug effects • retinopathy of prematurity