SUPERIOR CERVICAL GANGLIECTOMY INDUCES DRY AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION IN MICE

DIEGUEZ HH, ROMEO H, MILNE GA, GONZÁLEZ FLEITAS MF, ARANDA ML, IAQUINANDI A, SANDE PH, CHIANELLI MS, KELLER SARMIENTO MI, ROSENSTEIN RE, DORFMAN D; ROMEO H

Buenos Aires

Simposio; The role of the glia in health and diseases of the nervous system: clinical and basic sciences walking together; 2017

ISN-IBRO, Polo Cientifico y Tecnologico

Dry age-related macular degeneration, a prevalent cause of blindness, is a progressive anddegenerative disease, characterized by alterations in Bruch ́s membrane, retinal pigmentepithelium, and photoreceptors exclusively localized in the macula. Despite there areexperimental murine models, the vast majority take too long to develop retinal alterations, whichin general are ubiquitous, many result from non-eye specific genetic manipulations, and most donot always reproduce the hallmarks of human age-related macular degeneration. Choroid vesselsreceive sympathetic innervation from the superior cervical ganglion, which together with theparasympathetic system, regulate the blood flow. Choroid blood flow changes have been involvedin age-related macular degeneration development and progression. At present no experimentalmodels take this factor into account. The aim of this work was to analyze the effect of superiorcervical gangliectomy on the choroid, Bruch ́s membrane, retinal pigment epithelium, and retina.Adult male C57BL/6J mice were submitted to unilateral superior cervical gangliectomy and acontralateral sham procedure. Although superior cervical gangliectomy induced ubiquitouschoroid and choriocapillaris changes, it induced Bruch ́s membrane thickening, retinal pigmentepithelium melanin content and retinoid isomerohydrolase loss, drusen-like deposit occurrence,and retinal pigment epithelium and photoreceptors atrophy, exclusively localized in the temporalside. Moreover, superior cervical gangliectomy provoked a localized increase in retinal pigmentepithelium and photoreceptors apoptosis, and photoreceptors electroretinographic functiondecline. Therefore, superior cervical gangliectomy recapitulated the main features of human dryage-related macular degeneration, and could become a new experimental model of dry age-related macular degeneration, and a useful platform for developing new therapies.