Abstract
Purpose :
Cerebral dopamine neurotrophic factor (CDNF) is the second member of the MANF family of novel evolutionarily conserved proteins with neurotrophic capabilities. We showed previously that CDNF protects rod photoreceptor from degeneration. The present work examines the neuroprotective effect of CDNF on cone photoreceptors in a transgenic rat model of retinal degeneration, the S334ter-3 rats carrying the rhodopsin S334ter mutation.
Methods :
Recombinant human CDNF was expressed in E. coli and purified. At postnatal day (PD) 20, the right eyes of S334ter rat were injected intravitreally with recombinant human CDNF (10 µg in 3 µl PBS), and left eyes were injected with PBS (3 µl) as controls. Eyes were collected at PD 30, and the retina-lens preparations were stained with peanut agglutinin (PNA) to identify cone outer segments. Flat-mounted whole retina were examined by confocal microscopy.
Results :
Intravitreal injection of recombinant human CDNF significantly protected cone photoreceptor from degeneration. PNA-positive cells in the superior retina in CDNF treated retinas are 561.5±81.33/0.1 mm2 (mean±SD, n=4), significantly more than those in PBS treated retinas (412.75±40.89/0.1 mm2, n=4) (P < 0.05, Student t-test).
Conclusions :
CDNF protects cone from secondary degeneration in S334ter rats.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.