Effect of endothelin dual receptor antagonist on VEGF levels in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat retina

Koichi Masuzawa, Subrina Jesmin, Seiji Maeda, Sohel Zaedi, Nobutake Shimojo, Takashi Miyauchi*, Katsutoshi Goto

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Diabetic retinopathy (DR), one of the most serious causes of blindness, is often associated with the upregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in retina. Recently, leukocyte adhesion (leukostasis) is blamed for the occlusion of retinal capillary vascularity, which ultimately contributes to the progression of diabetic retinopathy. In addition, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), a representative factor for leukostasis, is increased in the diabetic retina. Endothelin (ET)-1, a potent vasoconstrictor peptide, is deeply linked to the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy. Different therapeutic interventions concerning VEGF have already been proposed to prevent diabetic retinopathy. However, no study yet has reported whether ET-1 dual receptor antagonist could alter the upregulated VEGF and ICAM-1 levels in the diabetic retina. The present study investigated the effect of ETA/B dual receptor antagonist (SB209670; 1 mg/rat/day) on the expression of VEGF and ICAM-1 in the diabetic rat retina. Diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ; 65 mg/kg) in Sprague-Dawley rats, whereas control rats (non-DM control) received only citrate buffer. After 1 week, the STZ-administered rats were randomly divided into two groups: one group (DM+SB209670) received ETA/B dual receptor antagonist for 2 weeks, and a vehicle group (DM+vehicle) was treated only with saline. After the treatment period, the retinas were removed from the eyeballs. In DM+vehicle group, the VEGF expression of the retinas was significantly increased (32.8 pg/mg) in comparison to that in the non-DM control group (26.2 pg/mg); this upregulation of VEGF was reversed in the DM+SB209670 group (28.6 pg/mg). The expression of retinal ICAM-1 was increased in the DM+vehicle group (152.2 pg/mg) compared with the non-DM control group (121.6 pg/mg). However, SB209670 treatment did not alter the expression of retinal ICAM-1 level (154.8 pg/ml) in DM rats. Thus we conclude that an ETA/B dual receptor antagonist could reverse the expression level of VEGF in the diabetic retina while failing to normalize the upregulated ICAM-1 expression.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1090-1094
Number of pages5
JournalExperimental Biology and Medicine
Volume231
Issue number6
Publication statusPublished - 2006 Jun
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Diabetic retina
  • Endothelin antagonism
  • ICAM-1
  • Rat
  • VEGF

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)

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