ENRICHED ENVIRONMENT EXPOSURE PROTECTS THE VISUAL PATHWAY ALTERATIONS INDUCED BY EXPERIMENTAL GLAUCOMA IN ADULT RATS

GONZÁLEZ FLEITAS, MARÍA F.; DIEGUEZ, HERNÁN H.; DEVOUASSOUX, JULIÁN D.; DORFMAN, DAMIÁN; ARANDA, MARCOS L.; ROSENSTEIN, RUTH E.

Córdoba

Congreso; XXXIII Congreso Anual SAN 2018; 2018

Sociedad Argentina Neurociencias

Filiaciones:  1° Laboratoriode Neuroquimica Retiniana y Oftalmologia Experimental, CEFYBO, Facultad deMedicina, Universidad de BuenosAires, 2° , 3° , 4° .Autores: 1.      Florencia GonzalezFleitas (1°)2.      Devouassoux Julian(1°)3.      Aranda MarcosL (1°)4.      Dieguez Hernan (1°)5.      Dorfman Damian (1°)6.      Rosenstein Ruth (1°)7.        (1°)ENRICHED ENVIRONMENTEXPOSURE PROTECTS THE VISUAL PATHWAY ALTERATIONS INDUCED BY EXPERIMENTALGLAUCOMA IN ADULT RATSGlaucoma is a leading cause of blindness,characterized by retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss and optic nerve (ON) damage.Increased intraocular pressure (IOP) is the most accepted risk factor forglaucomatous neuropathy, however many patients with successful IOP controlcontinue to lose vision. Enriched environment (EE) is a paradigm that involvessensory, cognitive, motor, and social stimulation. The aim of this work was toanalyze whether the exposure to EE prevents glaucomatous alterations. Adultmale Wistar rats received 30% of chondroitin sulfate in the anterior chamber ofone eye and vehicle in the contralateral eye, once a week, and were housed instandard environment (SE) or EE for 10 weeks. Animals were subjected tofunctional (electroretinogram and flash visual evoked potentials (VEPs)), andhistological analysis. EE housing which did not affect IOP, prevented thedecrease in VEPs and oscillatory potential amplitude, as well as the reductionin the RGC number detected by immunostaining against Brn3a. The number of axonsidentified by toluidine blue stain was also preserved by the exposure to EE.Morover, EE housing prevented the reduction in the positive area for myelinbasic protein (MBP) and luxol fast blue stain area in the ON. The increase inIba1 (a microglia/macrophage marker) positive area in the retina and ON wasalso preserved. These results suggest that the EE housing protects the visualpathway against damage induced by experimental glaucoma in adult rats.