Progesterone treatment in two rat models of ocular ischemia.

Authors

Rachael S Allen
Timothy W Olsen
Iqbal Sayeed
Heather A Cale
Katherine C Morrison
Yuliya Oumarbaeva
Irina Lucaciu
Jeffrey H Boatright
Machelle T Pardue
Donald G Stein

Publication/Presentation Date

5-1-2015

Abstract

PURPOSE: To determine whether the neurosteroid progesterone, shown to have protective effects in animal models of traumatic brain injury, stroke, and spinal cord injury, is also protective in ocular ischemia animal models.

METHODS: Progesterone treatment was tested in two ocular ischemia models in rats: a rodent anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (rAION) model, which induces permanent monocular optic nerve stroke, and the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model, which causes transient ischemia in both the retina and brain due to an intraluminal filament that blocks the ophthalmic and middle cerebral arteries. Visual function and retinal histology were assessed to determine whether progesterone attenuated retinal injury in these models. Additionally, behavioral testing and 2% 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining in brains were used to compare progesterone's neuroprotective effects in both retina and brain using the MCAO model.

RESULTS: Progesterone treatment showed no effect on visual evoked potential (VEP) reduction and retinal ganglion cell loss in the permanent rAION model. In the transient MCAO model, progesterone treatment reduced (1) electroretinogram (ERG) deficits, (2) MCAO-induced upregulation of glutamine synthetase (GS) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and (3) retinal ganglion cell loss. As expected, progesterone treatment also had significant protective effects in behavioral tests and a reduction in infarct size in the brain.

CONCLUSIONS: Progesterone treatment showed protective effects in the retina following MCAO but not rAION injury, which may result from mechanistic differences with injury type and the therapeutic action of progesterone.

Volume

56

Issue

5

First Page

2880

Last Page

2891

ISSN

1552-5783

Published In/Presented At

Allen, R. S., Olsen, T. W., Sayeed, I., Cale, H. A., Morrison, K. C., Oumarbaeva, Y., Lucaciu, I., Boatright, J. H., Pardue, M. T., & Stein, D. G. (2015). Progesterone treatment in two rat models of ocular ischemia. Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 56(5), 2880–2891. https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.14-16070

Disciplines

Medical Education | Medicine and Health Sciences

PubMedID

26024074

Department(s)

USF-LVHN SELECT Program

Document Type

Article