Abstract
Abstract: :
Background: Recent studies showed an inhibitory effect of intravitreal application of crystalline triamcinolone acetonide on intraocular neovascular disorders such as diabetic retinopathy (1) and exudative age-related macular degeneration (2).It is unclear whether this is due to the antiinflammatory or to other effects of this type of steroids. Purpose: To investigate the antiangiogenic effect of crystalline triamcinolone acetonide on neovascularization in a retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) mouse model. Methods: Mice were incubated from P7-P12 with 75% O2. On P12, 1µl of crystalline triamcinolone acetonide was injected once into the vitreous. 1µl saline was injected in the second eye as a control. On P17, mice were sacrificed and eyes were analyzed. Retinal neovascularization was assessed by counting vascular cell nuclei on the vitreal side of the internal limiting membrane. Results: Relative hypoxia resulted in retinal and intravitreal proliferation of blood vessels. After intravitreal injection of crystalline triamcinolone acetonide, pathologic proliferation of retinal blood vessels was reduced by 56% (Mean=15 1.62 neovascular nuclei per section) compared to control eyes (Mean=8.6 1.48; P<0.005). Conclusions: The anti-angiogenic effect of crystalline triamcinolone acetonide as demonstrated in the study may be responsible for its positive clinical effect in ocular neovascular disorders. Ref. 1. Jonas JB, Hayler JK, Sofker A, Panda-Jonas S. Am J Ophthalmol 2001 2. Danis RP, Ciulla TA, Pratt LM, Anliker W. Retina 2000
Keywords: 572 retinopathy of prematurity • 483 neovascularization • 377 corticosteroids