Abstract
Purpose :
To explore potential therapeutic effects of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibition on diabetic retinopathy through retinal transcriptome analysis in db/db mice.
Methods :
Five-week-old male db/db mice were divided into two groups. For the first group, 5 mice were treated with 10mg/kg/day of oral empagliflozin, a SGLT-2 inhibitor, for 11 weeks. In the control group, there were 6 mice in total, with 3 mice treated with oral and the remaining 3 with subcutaneous administrations of normal saline. After 11 weeks, retinas were extracted from both eyes and RNA sequencing with pathway analysis were done.
Results :
A total of 57 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified. In the empagliflozin treated group, 24 genes were upregulated, and 33 genes were downregulated compared to controls. The top 5 genes were Fam168b, Pacsin2, Nrl, Zscan26, and Cnbp. Gene ontology functional analysis showed significant changes in binding, protein binding, and catalytic activity.
Conclusions :
Retinal transcriptome analysis after SGLT-2 inhibition in db/db mice showed significant effects on binding, protein binding, catalytic activity. Further studies are warranted to explore the potential therapeutic implications on diabetic retinopathy.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.