SUPERIOR CERVICAL GANGLIECTOMY INDUCES DRY AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION IN MICE: A NEW EXPERIMENTAL MODEL

DIEGUEZ, HERNÁN H., GONZALEZ FLEITAS,M., ARANDA M. L., MILNE, G., ROSENSNSTEIN, R., DORFMAN, D.,; ROMEO, HORACIO E.

Mar del Plata

Congreso; LXII Reunion Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigacion Clinica; 2017

Sociedad Argentina de Investigacion Clinica

Dry age-related macular degeneration, aprevalent cause of blindness, is a progressive and degenerative disease,characterized by alterations in Bruch ́s membrane, retinal pigment epithelium,and photoreceptors exclusively localized in the macula. Despite there areexperimental murine models, the vast majority take too long to develop retinalalterations, which in general are ubiquitous, many result from non-eye specificgenetic manipulations, and most do not always reproduce the hallmarks of humanage-related macular degeneration. Choroid vessels receive sympatheticinnervation from the superior cervical ganglion, which together with theparasympathetic system, regulate the blood flow. Choroid blood flow changeshave been involved in age-related macular degeneration development andprogression. At present no experimental models take this factor into account.The aim of this work was to analyze the effect of superior cervical gangliectomyon the choroid, Bruch ́s membrane, retinal pigment epithelium, and retina.Adult male C57BL/6J mice were submitted to unilateral superior cervicalgangliectomy and a contralateral sham procedure. Although superior cervicalgangliectomy induced ubiquitous choroid and choriocapillaris changes(p<0.01), it induced Bruch ́s membrane thickening, retinal pigmentepithelium melanin content and retinoid isomerohydrolase loss, drusen-likedeposit occurrence, and retinal pigment epithelium and photoreceptors atrophy,exclusively localized in the temporal side (p<0.01). Moreover, superior cervicalgangliectomy provoked a localized increase in retinal pigment epithelium andphotoreceptors apoptosis (p<0.01), and photoreceptors electroretinographicfunction decline (p<0.01). Therefore, superior cervical gangliectomyrecapitulated the main features of human dry age-related macular degeneration,and could become a new experimental model of dry age-related maculardegeneration, and a useful platform for developing new therapies