Enriched environment protects the retina from diabetic damage in adult rats

DORFMAN D; ARANDA ML; GONZÁLEZ FLEITAS MF; CHIANELLI MS; FERNANDEZ DC; ROSENSTEIN RE

Orlando

Congreso; Pan-American Research Day; 2014

Purpose: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) remains one of the most feared complications of diabetes. Available treatments are not very effective. We analyzed the effect of enriched environment (EE) housing on retinal damage induced by experimental diabetes in adult Wistar rats. Design: Laboratory investigation. Methods: Diabetes was induced by an intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ). Three days after vehicle or STZ injection, animals were housed in EE or remained in standard environment (SE). In SE- or EE-housed animals, retinal function (electroretinogram (ERG), and oscillatory potentials (OPs)), retinal morphology, blood-retinal barrier integrity, synaptophysin, astrocyte glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF),tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels, and lipid peroxidation were assessed in retina from diabetic animals housed in SE or EE. Results: EE housing preserved scotopic ERG a-wave, b-wave and OPs, avoided albumin-Evan´s blue leakage, prevented the decrease in retinal synaptophysin and astrocyte GFAP levels, and the increase in VEGF levels, TNFα, and oxidative stress induced by diabetes. In addition, EE housing prevented the decrease in BDNF levels induced by experimental diabetes. When EE housing started 7 weeks after diabetes onset, retinal function was significantly preserved. Conclusions: These results indicate that EE housing could constitute a novel strategy for DR treatment.