Establishment of monocular-limited photoreceptor degeneration models in rabbits

BMC Ophthalmology

Research Article

Hitomi Isago¹  Namie Murayama¹  Eriko Sugano¹  Hiroshi Tomita²  Makoto Tamai³ 

[1] Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience, Department of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Iwate University Graduate School of Engineering, 4-3-5 Ueda Morioka, 020-8551, Iwate, Japan;Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience, Department of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Iwate University Graduate School of Engineering, 4-3-5 Ueda Morioka, 020-8551, Iwate, Japan;Clinical Research, Innovation and Education Center, Tohoku University Hospital, 1-1 Seiryo Aoba Sendai Miyagi, 980-8574, Tohoku, Japan;Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo Aoba Sendai Miyagi, 980-8574, Tohoku, Japan;

关键词: Photoreceptor degeneration;    Monocular;    Pigmented rabbits;    Verteporfin;    Nitric oxide;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2415-13-19

 received in 2013-02-12, accepted in 2013-05-15,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundNumerous rodent models of photoreceptor degeneration have been developed for the study of visual function. However, no viable model has been established in a species that is more closely related to Homo sapiens. Here, we present a rabbit model of monocular photoreceptor degeneration.MethodsWe tested 2 chemicals, verteporfin and sodium nitroprusside (SNP), for developing a 1-eye limited photoreceptor degeneration model in pigmented rabbits. After the intravenous injection of verteporfin, the retina was exposed to light from a halogen lamp for 0, 10, 30, or 60 min. Alternately, 100 μL of various concentrations of sodium nitroprusside (0.1 mM, 0.5 mM, and 1 mM) were intravitreously injected into the rabbit eye. Retinal degeneration was evaluated by fundus photography, electroretinogram (ERG), and histological examinations.ResultsFundus photographs of animals in the verteporfin- or SNP-treated groups showed evidence of retinal degeneration. The severity of this degradation depended on the duration of light exposure and the concentration of SNP administered. The degeneration was clearly limited to the light-exposed areas in the verteporfin-treated groups. Extensive retinal atrophy was observed in the SNP-treated groups. The a- and b-wave amplitudes were dramatically decreased on the ERGs from SNP-treated groups. Histological examination revealed that either verteporfin or SNP induced severe photoreceptor degeneration. High-dose SNP treatment (1 mM) was also associated with inner retinal layer degeneration.ConclusionsBoth SNP and verteporfin clearly caused photoreceptor degeneration without any effect on the contralateral eye. These compounds therefore represent valuable tools for the empirical investigation of visual function recovery. The findings will inform guidelines for clinical applications such as retinal prostheses, cell-based therapy, and gene therapy.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Isago et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.