Neurochemistry and Neuropharmacology
Author: Julieta Bressano | Email: Jula.Bresa@outlook.com
Julieta Bressano1°, Manuel Soliño1°, Veronica Zuccarella1°, Juan José López-Costa1°
1° Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia ¨Prof. E. De Robertis¨ (IBCN), Facultad de Medicina, UBA-CONICET
In glaucoma animal models, CB1 receptor agonists have shown a neuroprotective effect. Light-induced retinal degeneration (LIRD) is a model that simulates human retinal degenerative diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a CB1 receptor agonist (ACEA) on LIRD. Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to continuous illumination (12,000 lux) for 24 hs. Subsequently, ACEA, was injected intravitreally into the right eyes, while the left eyes received vehicle (control). After one week, retinas were dissected out and fixed for immunohistochemistry (IHC), or were frozen for Western Blot (WB) assays. The antibodies for GFAP, active Caspase 3 (aC3), and AKT were used for WB, while only the first two were used for IHC. Immunoreactive areas and optical density (OD) were quantified by image analysis and data were statistically analyzed using Student’s t-test at GraphPad software. ACEA treated retinas showed a trend to a lower area and OD of GFAP (p: 0.46 and 0.37, respectively). On the other hand, the aC3 immunostained sections showed a significant decrease in area (p: 0.045) and a non-significant decrease in OD (p: 0.094). WB studies showed non-significant decreases of aC3, GFAP and AKT in ACEA-treated retinas compared to controls (p:0.23, 0.79 and 0.05, respectively). The administration of ACEA following illumination showed some neuroprotective effect although further research is needed in order to confirm its potential use.