Methylene blue prevents retinal damage in a rat model of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP)

IGNACIO LARRAYOZ; MANUEL REY-FUNES; JUAN CARLOS FERNÁNDEZ; DANIELA S CONTARTESE; FEDERICO ROLÓN; PABLO INSERRA; JUAN J LÓPEZ-COSTA; VERÓNICA B DORFMAN; ALFREDO MARTINEZ; FABIÁN LOIDL

Congreso; ARVO Annual Meeting; 2015

Purpose Perinatal asphyxia (PA) induces retinal lesions, generating ischemic proliferativeretinopathy (IPR) and ROP, which may result in blindness. Previously, we have shown thatthe nitrergic system was involved in the physiopathology of PA-related ROP. Here weanalyze the application of methylene blue (MB), a well-known guanylate cyclase inhibitor,as a therapeutic strategy to prevent IPR in a rat model of ROP.Methods Male rats were treated in 3 di􀃗erent ways: 1) CTL group comprised born to termanimals; 2) PA group comprised rats exposed to perinatal asphyxia (20 min.); and 3) MBgroup comprised animals born from pregnant rats treated with MB (2 mg/kg) 30 and 5min before delivery and then the pups were subjected to PA as above. mRNA wasobtained 6 h after asphyxia for molecular studies and tissue was collected 30 days laterfor morphological and biochemical analysis. Data were statistically analyzed by ANOVAand di􀃗erences were considered statistically signi􀃒cant when p < 0.05.Results PA produced signi􀃒cant gliosis, angiogenesis, and thickening of the inner retina (p