Abstract
Purpose :
Berberine is a benzylisoquinoline alkaloid found in a variety of medicinal herbs with anti-angiogenesis properties. The present work examines the potential of berberine in inhibiting CNV using the Matrigel CNV rat model.
Methods :
CNV was induced in adult female Sprague-Dawley rats by subretinal injection of Matrigel. Berberine powder was added to PBS (10 µg/µl) as a suspension and mixed with Matrigel at a 1:3 ratio immediately before injecting to the right eyes (1.2 µl/eye). The left eyes were injected with Matrigel diluted at 3:1 with PBS only. Animals were killed 10 days later and perfused with a DiI solution to stain blood vessels. Eyes were collected and embedded in 5% agarose. Serial sections were cut on a vibratome to cover the entire Matrigel area and examined by confocol microscopy. CNV area was calculated and analyzed.
Results :
The average CNV affected area in the in the control group is calculated to be 293.97±149.60 (x 1,000 µm2, mean±SD, n=7). The berberine treated eyes, on the other hand, had an average CNV area of 87.41±70.43 (x 1,000 µm2, mean±SD, n=8), significantly smaller than the control eyes (P<0.01).
Conclusions :
Berberine significantly inhibits CNV in the subretinal Matrigel CNV model.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.