Abstract
Purpose :
Diabetic retinopathy is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, but the underlying mechanism is still obscure and treatment approach has not been developed. Here, we investigated the effect of exercise training on retinal function in type 2 diabetic mice.
Methods :
8-week-old type 2 diabetic mice (db/db; Leprdb) and heterozygous controls (db/m; m Leprdb) either underwent forced treadmill exercise training 5 days a week or remained sedentary for 8 weeks. Body weight was recorded once a week and blood glucose level was once every 2 weeks. Visual function was analyzed by photopic and scotopic electroretinogram (ERG) at week 8, the end of the experimental protocol.
Results :
Body weight and blood glucose of the db/db exercise (49±1.7g, 412±115 mg/dl) and db/db sedentary (53±1.8g, 410±80mg/dl) groups were significantly higher than those of the db/m exercise (29±1.9g, 134±12 mg/dl) and db/m sedentary groups (30±0.9g, 127±21 mg/dl) at week 8. Although, the body weight of the db/db exercise group was lower than that of the db/db sedentary group, blood glucose level was not significantly different between db/db exercise and db/db sedentary groups. The a-wave, b-wave, and OP amplitudes in scotopic ERG, and b-wave amplitudes in photopic ERG, which represents cone system function, were all reduced in the db/db sedentary groups compared with the db/m sedentary group at week 8. However, these changes in the db/db mice were attenuated by exercise. The db/m showed no difference in ERG responses with or without exercise.
Conclusions :
Exercise training for 8 weeks preserved retinal function in db/db mice, suggesting that exercise may be a potential therapeutic approach to protect visual function in diabetes.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.