Abstract
Purpose :
This study investigated the aftereffects of differential gene expression of BMPs in chick retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) following the termination of various ocular growth modulation visual manipulations.
Methods :
14-day old White-Leghorn chicks wore monocular either +10 D or -10 D lenses for two days. RPE was collected 0 or 15 minutes, or 2 days after their removal and differential gene expression of BMP2, 4, and 7 examined using qPCR.
Results :
BMP gene expression was up-regulated after +10 D lens treatment and down-regulated after -10 D lens treatments. Specifically, for samples collected immediately after device removal, BMP2 expression was up-regulated by 739 ± 121% with the +10 D lens treatment, with significant up-regulation also detectible 15 min after but not 2 days after device removal (334 ± 37% & 77 ± 22% respectively). With the -10 D lens treatment, BMP2 gene expression was down-regulated, to 23 ± 5% immediately after lens removal, with this trend persisting 15 minutes after -10 D lens removal (33 ± 6%). Interestingly, 2 days after -10 D lens removal, BMP2 gene expression was up-regulated rather than down-regulated, to 169 ± 18%. Similar gene expression patterns were also detected for BMP4, although the changes were smaller.
Conclusions :
The effects of defocus lens treatments on BMP2 and BMP4 gene expression in chick RPE persist after treatment termination. The time frames for these aftereffects potentially offer new insights into lens-based myopia control treatments and the impact of wearing schedules.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.