Environmental Enrichment Protects The Retina From Early Diabetic Damage In Adult Rats

DORFMAN D; ARANDA ML; GONZÁLEZ FLEITAS MF; CHIANELLI MS; SANDE PH; ROSENSTEIN RE

PLOS ONE

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Lugar: San Francisco; Año: 2014

1932-6203

Diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of reduced visual acuity and acquiredblindness.Available treatments are not completely effective. We analyzed the effect ofenvironmental enrichment on retinal damage induced by experimental diabetes in adultWistar rats. Diabetes was induced by an intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin.Three days after vehicle or streptozotocin injection, animals were housed in enrichedenvironment or remained in a standard environment. Retinal function(electroretinogram, and oscillatory potentials), retinal morphology, blood-retinal barrierintegrity, synaptophysin, astrocyte and Müller cell glial fibrillary acidic protein, vascularendothelial growth factor, tumor necrosis factor-α, and brain-derived neurotrophicfactor levels, as well as lipid peroxidation were assessed in retina from diabetic animalshoused in standard or enriched environment. Environmental enrichment preservedscotopic electroretinogram a-wave, b-wave and oscillatory potential amplitude, avoidedalbumin-Evan ́s blue leakage, prevented the decrease in retinal synaptophysin andastrocyte glial fibrillary acidic protein levels, the increase in Müller cell glial fibrillaryacidic protein, vascular endothelial growth factor and tumor necrosis factor-α levels, aswell as oxidative stress induced by diabetes. In addition, enriched environmentprevented the decrease in retinal brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels induced byexperimental diabetes. When environmental enrichment started 7 weeks after diabetesonset, retinal function was significantly preserved. These results indicate that enrichedenvironment could attenuate the early diabetic damage in the retina from adult rats.