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1 From the Departments of Ophthalmology and 3 Cell Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, and the 2 Dean A. McGee Eye Institute, Oklahoma City.
| Abstract |
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METHODS. Albino rats were injected intraperitoneally with PBN (aqueous solution) or water, or were not injected, and then were placed in constant light (2700 lux) for 24 hours. The incorporation of PBN into the retina was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. Electroretinograms (ERGs) were recorded before light treatment and 1 and 15 days after the cessation of exposure to constant light. Eyes were taken for histology at each time point and outer nuclear layer (ONL) thickness determined.
RESULTS. PBN was incorporated into the retina after intraperitoneal injection. Both control (water-injected and uninjected) groups exposed to constant light maintained only 28% of ONL thickness and 20% of retinal function, compared with the unexposed control group. In contrast, the PBN-treated animals maintained 80% of ONL thickness and exhibited 87% of retinal function.
CONCLUSIONS. PBN protects the albino rat retina from the damaging effects of constant light stress. That light-induced and hereditary retinal degenerations share certain morphologic hallmarks and follow a similar apoptotic mechanism of degeneration raises the possibility of pharmacologic therapy for hereditary and environmentally induced neurodegenerative disorders.
| Introduction |
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2-adrenergic agonists10
have been
tested. Recently, the calcium channel blocker
D-cis-diltiazem was found to slow the rate of
retinal degeneration in the rd mouse,11
but not
in the rat with a P23H rhodopsin mutation.12
Although these treatments have had some success in animals, most of
them require invasive intraocular procedures and some have significant
systemic side effects. The only medical therapy currently available to
slow the progression of retinitis pigmentosa in humans is vitamin A
supplementation.13
No effective medical therapy is
available for treating age-related macular degeneration, the leading
cause of blindness in people more than 50 years of age. Phenyl-N-tert-butylnitrone (PBN) was originally developed as a spin-trapping agent in biologic systems because it reacts with free radicals, mainly hydroxyl radicals, to generate a more stable molecule that can be quantified. It was first used to trap trichloromethyl radicals in an in vitro metabolic reaction.14 15 However, PBN was found to have cytoprotective properties in a number of experimental paradigms, including reduction in the mortality associated with endotoxin shock,16 17 18 19 20 21 neuroprotection in ischemiareperfusion and aging models,22 23 amelioration of the central nervous system damage associated with the human immunodeficiency virus envelope protein gp 120,24 and prevention of streptozotocin-induced diabetes in mice.25 More recently, PBN has been shown to have a variety of pharmacologic effects, which we describe in the Discussion section.
We used the light-damage model of retinal degeneration to investigate the role of PBN as a neuroprotective agent in the retina. Albino rats were given intraperitoneal injections of PBN and exposed to bright light for 24 hours, and their retinal status was evaluated by histology and electroretinography. Our results show that PBN administered systemically crosses the bloodretinal barrier and protects the retina from light damage.
| Materials and Methods |
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Animals
Adult male albino Wistar rats (weight, 150200 g) were
purchased from Harlan SpragueDawley (Indianapolis, IN). All animals
were kept for at least 2 weeks in dim cyclic light (12 hours on; 12
hours off; 510 lux). They were fed laboratory chow ad libitum and had
free access to water. Twelve rats were used in the PBN pharmacokinetic
experiment; 60 rats were used for electroretinography (ERG) and
histology. The animal care strictly conformed to the ARVO Statement for
the Use of Animals in Ophthalmic and Vision Research and the University
of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) Guidelines for Animals in
Research. All protocols were reviewed and approved by the Institutional
Animal Care and Use Committees of the OUHSC and the Dean A. McGee Eye
Institute.
PBN Pharmacokinetics in the Retina
Rats were given intraperitoneal (IP) injections of PBN (50
mg/kg body weight with a solution of 25 mg PBN/ml water), and retinas
were collected and frozen in liquid nitrogen 0.5, 1.5, 3, and 6 hours
later. Three animals were used for each time point. An internal
standard (10 µl phenacetin at 0.1792 mg/ml in acetonitrile-water;
60:40 vol/vol) was added to each sample in 1.0 ml deionized water
before homogenization. An aliquot of the homogenate was taken for
protein assay, and the remainder was extracted three times with 4, 2,
and 2 ml of chloroform. The extracts were pooled, washed with 1 ml
water, and centrifuged at 3600g for 4 minutes. After
evaporation of the chloroform under nitrogen, 200 µl of
acetonitrile/water (60:40 vol/vol) was added, and 100 µl was injected
on the HPLC column. HPLC was conducted with a commercial system
(Supelcosil LC-18 column; 25 cm x 4.6 mm; Supelco, Bellefonte,
PA) with a mobile phase of acetonitrile-water (60:40 vol/vol) at a flow
rate of 1.0 ml/min, and the wavelength for detection was 289 nm.
Protein Assay
Protein concentration was determined using bovine serum albumin
as a standard (Pierce, Rockford, IL), according to the manufacturers
protocol.
Light-Damage Paradigm
Rats were divided into two groups: One was exposed to damaging
light and the other with exposure to normal dim light served as a
control. Within each group, three subgroups were either untreated,
treated with vehicle (water), or treated with an aqueous solution of
PBN. Treatment consisted of 5 IP injections of water or PBN in water
(50 mg/kg body weight), the first administered 30 minutes before light
exposure and the remainder every 6 hours thereafter until the end of
light exposure. Light exposure continued for 24 hours in a box with
white, reflecting surfaces, equipped with three fluorescent tubes (cool
white, 34 W). The illuminance measured at the position of the rats
eyes (3 cm above the cage floor) was set at 2700 lux. Exposure under
these conditions was found to cause a predictable but incomplete loss
of photoreceptor cells. During exposure, the rats had free access to
food and water. After exposure, the animals were placed in darkness for
24 hours and then returned to the dim cyclic light conditions. Animals
in the control groups were maintained on their normal dim light cycle.
Electroretinography
Rats were dark adapted overnight and prepared under dim red
light for the ERG study. They were anesthetized with intramuscular
injections of ketamine (120 mg/kg body weight) and xylazine (6 mg/kg
body weight). One drop of 1% tropicamide was applied to the cornea to
dilate the pupil, and one drop of 0.5% proparacaine HCl was applied
for local anesthesia. The white light stimulus used to evoke ERGs was
delivered in 10-msec pulses by an integrating sphere (Labsphere, North
Sutton, NH), with a 60-sec interval between flashes. These conditions
have been shown to be sufficient to prevent light adaptation to the
light flashes.9
ERGs were recorded with gold electrodes at
21 intensities presented in ascending order, beginning below threshold,
to get the b-wave sensitivity curves. A computer running commercial
software (Origin 6.0; (Microcal, Northampton, MA) was used to fit the
data of each rat, giving the saturated b-wave amplitude
(Bmax).
ERGs were recorded before treatment and light exposure, and at day (D)1 and D15. ERGs of unexposed rats (treated or untreated) were recorded in parallel.
Histology
In each of the six groups, 10 rats were killed for light
microscopic evaluation of retinal structure. Immediately after death,
eyes were excised, placed in fixative (4% paraformaldehyde, 2%
trichloroacetic acid, 20% isopropyl alcohol, 2% aqueous zinc
chloride, and 72% distilled water), and embedded in paraffin. Sections
of 5 µm were cut along the vertical meridian through the optic nerve.
The thickness of the outer nuclear layer (ONL) was measured at 0.5-mm
distances from the optic nerve to the inferior and superior ora
serrata.26
The area under the curves was
integrated using the statistical analysis program (Origin 6.0;
Microcal).
Statistical Analysis
Results are plotted as mean ± SD. Significant differences
across groups were assessed using an unpaired t-test for
the ERG data and for the histologic data, with a level of significance
set at P = 0.05. Significant differences in a defined
group before and after exposure were assessed using a paired
t-test for the ERG data with a level of significance set
at P = 0.05.
| Results |
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Integration of the area under the ONL thickness curves at D15 produced virtually identical values for untreated and water-treated exposed groups, with an average of 28% preservation of ONL area, compared with that of unexposed control retinas (Fig. 5) . By contrast, PBN-treated exposed animals had an 80% preservation of ONL area. Thus, systemic administration of PBN afforded significant protection against light damage compared with untreated or water-treated control retinas (P < 0.0001).
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| Discussion |
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An interesting observation in the PBN-treated group was that Bmax was lower at D1 than at D15 (65% versus 87%, P < 0.02) compared with control values, which was not the case in either the water-injected or uninjected animals. Part of the loss of function is due to the loss of photoreceptor cells. However, light stress also leads to outer segment disorganization and shortening,9 27 28 which could contribute to the loss of function as well. In the PBN-treated animals, there was a significant recovery of function between D1 and D15, which suggests that the light-induced degenerative process was interrupted by PBN. The surviving photoreceptor recovered their integrity (a turnover period for the renewal of rod outer segments is approximately 10 days),27 and therefore the reduction of Bmax at D15 was caused solely by photoreceptor cell death. Therefore, light exposure in the PBN-treated animal induced a transitory disorganization of the outer segment photoreceptor (decreasing retinal sensitivity temporarily) that did not progress further to cell death.
The mechanism by which PBN protects the retina is not known. Nevertheless, PBN has well-defined free radicaltrapping capabilities, and, given the role of oxidant stress in retinal light damage,7 8 9 29 30 31 it seems logical to propose some antioxidant function for PBN. By scavenging free radicals, PBN can act early in the degenerative cascade of events and prevent cell death.
PBN has also been shown to have several pharmacologic effects, such as
preventing the induction of inducible nitric oxide synthetase
(iNOS),31
32
inhibiting the activation of the
transcription factor NF-
B,31
inhibiting the expression
of multiple cytokine genes,33
34
activating transcription
factors,33
34
inhibiting expression of multiple
apoptosis-associated genes,21
and downregulating the
mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway.35
All
these PBN effects could be secondary to its radical scavenging
properties. However, PBN alone has recently been shown to reduce basal
protein phosphorylation36
and to upregulate the expression
of heat shock proteins such as hsp27.35
Therefore, the
protection provided by PBN may be from a cumulative effect of its
multiple pharmacologic activities.
During the past few years, several medical therapeutic approaches to inherited and light-induced retinal degenerations have had some success. Growth factors such as basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) have slowed the rate of degeneration,3 4 5 but have the disadvantage of requiring intravitreal administration because the peptides do not cross the bloodretinal barrier. Systemic administration of D-cis-diltiazem, a calcium channel blocker used to treat hypertension, slowed the degeneration in the rd mouse11 but was ineffective in the P23H rhodopsin mutant rat.12 Because oxidant stress has been implicated in inherited retinal degenerations37 and age-related macular degeneration,38 drugs such as PBN may be good candidates as potential therapeutic agents. PBN is efficient, bioavailable, stable, soluble, and nontoxic at the dose used in this study. Although more information is needed on its metabolism, its ability to cross the bloodretinal and bloodbrain barriers makes it potentially effective in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
In conclusion, we have shown for the first time that PBN administered systemically enters the retina and efficiently protects the retina from light damage. Whether the protective effect is through scavenging free radicals or through some other mechanism is currently under study in our laboratory, as is the effect of PBN on the survival of photoreceptors in animals with inherited retinal degeneration.
| Acknowledgements |
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| Footnotes |
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Submitted for publication October 2, 2000; revised December 13, 2000; accepted January 8, 2001.
Commercial relationships policy: N.
The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page
charge payment. This article must therefore be marked
"advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C.
1734
solely to indicate this fact.
Corresponding author: Isabelle Ranchon, Department of Ophthalmology, 608 Stanton L. Young Boulevard, Oklahoma City, OK 73104. isabelle-ranchon{at}ouhsc.edu
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2-adrenergic agonists induce basic fibroblast growth factor expression in photoreceptors in vivo and ameliorate light damage J Neurosci 16,5986-5992This article has been cited by other articles:
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