Abstract
Purpose :
The macular edema causes with the vison loss and visual field defect in retinal vein occlusion (RVO) patients. Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatment is improved the pathology of macular edema in eyes with RVO. However, there are some drawbacks such as recurrences of the edema by the anti-VEGF injection. Adiponectin which is adipokine secreted from adipocytes was increased in the retina with streptozotocin-induced diabetic retinopathy murine model. The purpose of this study was to clarify the involvement of adiponectin in the pathophysiology of retinal vascular hyperpermeability and the therapeutic effects of anti-adiponectin antibody in the murine RVO model.
Methods :
We investigated in the levels of VEGF and adiponectin with the vitreous humor diabetic macular edema (DME) and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) patients by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RVO was induced in the mouse eye by laser photocoagulation after the rose bengal injection at 50 mW power, 50 µm size, and 5 s duration (Fuma S et al., Scientific Reports, 2017). Moreover, we investigated the expression level of adiponectin in the retain of murine RVO model by real-time (RT)-PCR and Western blotting. The retinal thickness and non-perfusion area were measured by HE staining and flat-mounted retina to evaluate the effect of anti-adiponectin antibody. In addition, we used Western blotting to investigate the expression levels of hyperpermeability factors after the intravitreal injection of anti-adiponectin antibody.
Results :
The adiponectin level with the vitreous body of DME patients was higher than that of PDR patients. Interestingly, both mRNA and protein of adiponectin were increased in the retina of murine RVO model. The increases of retinal thickness and non-perfusion area were ameliorated by anti-adiponectin antibody. Moreover, anti-adiponectin antibody reduced the expression level of tumor necrosis factor-α and the degree of downregulation of Tie-2.
Conclusions :
These findings indicate that adiponectin could represent as one of potential therapeutic targets for the macular edema in DME and RVO patients.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.