Protective Effect of Pioglitazone on Retinal Ganglion Cells in an Experimental Mouse Model of Ischemic Optic Neuropathy

Ming Hui Sun*, Kuan Jen Chen, Chi Chin Sun, Rong Kung Tsai

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The aim was to assess the protective effect of pioglitazone (PGZ) on retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) after anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION) in diabetic and non-diabetic mice. Adult C57BL/6 mice with induced diabetes were divided into three groups: group 1: oral PGZ (20 mg/kg) in 0.1% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) for 4 weeks; group 2: oral PGZ (10 mg/kg) in 0.1% DMSO for 4 weeks; and group 3: oral DMSO only for 4 weeks (control group). Two weeks after treatment, AION was induced through photochemical thrombosis. For non-diabetic mice, adult C57BL/6 mice were divided into four groups after AION was induced: group 1: oral DMSO for 4 weeks; group 2: oral PGZ (20 mg/kg) in 0.1% DMSO for 4 weeks; group 3: oral PGZ (20 mg/kg) in 0.1% DMSO + peritoneal injection of GW9662 (one kind of PPAR-γ inhibitor) (1 mg/kg) for 4 weeks; group 4: peritoneal injection of GW9662 (1 mg/kg) for 4 weeks; One week after the induction of AION in diabetic mice, apoptosis in RGCs was much lower in group 1 (8.0 ± 4.9 cells/field) than in group 2 (24.0 ± 11.5 cells/field) and 3 (25.0 ± 7.7 cells/field). Furthermore, microglial cell infiltration in the retina (group 1: 2.0 ± 2.6 cells/field; group 2: 15.6 ± 3.5 cells/field; and group 3: 14.8 ± 7.5 cells/field) and retinal thinning (group 1: 6.7 ± 5.7 μm; group 2: 12.8 ± 6.1 μm; and group 3: 15.8 ± 5.8 μm) were also lower in group 1 than in the other two groups. In non-diabetic mice, preserved Brn3A+ cells were significantly greater in group 2 (2382 ± 140 Brn3A+ cells/mm2, n = 7) than in group 1 (1920 ± 228 Brn3A+ cells/mm2; p = 0.03, n = 4), group 3 (1938 ± 213 Brn3A+ cells/mm2; p = 0.002, n = 4), and group 4 (2138 ± 126 Brn3A+ cells/mm2; p = 0.03, n = 4), respectively; PGZ confers protection to RGCs from damage caused by ischemic optic neuropathy in diabetic and non-diabetic mice.

Original languageEnglish
Article number411
JournalInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences
Volume24
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 27 12 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors.

Keywords

  • diabetes
  • ischemic optic neuropathy
  • pioglitazone
  • Animals
  • Optic Disk
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Pioglitazone/pharmacology
  • Dimethyl Sulfoxide
  • Mice
  • Retinal Ganglion Cells
  • Optic Neuropathy, Ischemic/drug therapy
  • Disease Models, Animal

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Protective Effect of Pioglitazone on Retinal Ganglion Cells in an Experimental Mouse Model of Ischemic Optic Neuropathy'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this