Abstract
Purpose::
Hypoxia retinopathy is a potential eye disease leading to blindness. The main pathology of these diseases is retinal new blood vessel information. The purpose of this study is to investigate early expression patterns and signification of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in oxygen-induced retinopathy of mouse.
Methods::
Set up oxygen -induced retinopathy model in mouse. C57BL/6 mice were exposed to hyperoxia (75% oxygen) for 5 day and then returned to normoxia (room air). Experimental mice were sacrificed at 0h, 2h, 6h, and 24h when the mice returned in normoxia immediately. RT-PCR and Immunohistochemistry were used for determination of expression levels of retinal VEGF and iNOS mRNA and their protein respectively.
Results::
VEGF expression in the animal model followed a time-dependently pattern: no distinct expression at 0h, began to elevate at 2h and reached the peak at 6h, then decreased progressively at 24h. VEGF protein was located in the cytoplasm of ganglion cell in retina (ganglion cell layer) by IHC. Inducible NOS demonstrated the similar expression pattern except its expression reached the peak at 2h.
Conclusions::
VEGF and iNOS had the same early expression pattern at the oxygen-induced retinopathy model. It may imply that these two cytokines attended the angiogenesis procedure under the hypoxia condition and may be treated as a potential interventional target.
Keywords: retinal neovascularization • hypoxia