CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

10th Annual CAN Meeting Canadian Association for Neuroscience Client Retinal Neuroprotective effects of A2a receptor antagonist SCH58261 - Poster Authors: Manuel Soliño , Dr. Ester López , Leonardo Juarez , Noelí Martignone , Dr. Mariana Bareiro , Dr. Elena Girardi , Dr. Juan López-Costa ID: 104220 Text: Light induced retinal degeneration (LIRD) resembles retinal degenerative diseases and is a useful model to search for neuroprotective strategies. The modulation of adenosine A2a receptors has proved to be neuroprotective in other retinal injuries and in CNS pathologies. The aim of this work was to evaluate the potential protective effect of A2a antagonists. Sprague Dawley rats were intravitreally injected in one eye with SCH 58261 and contralateral eyes with vehicle. Then, rats were submitted to either continuous illumination (12000 lux) or the regular illumination cycle (12hs:12hs; 80lux) for 1 day. Eyes were processed by immunocytochemistry (ICC), TUNEL or western blot (WB). Primary antibodies against GFAP (DAKO) and activated caspase 3 (C3a; Sigma) were used. GFAP immunoreactive areas and number of positive TUNEL cells were quantified. Data was analysed using Student´s t test. Animals treated with SCH 58261 show a diminution in GFAP expression confirmed by WB and ICC (P< 0.01 and P=0.0001; respectively). C3a levels measured by WB show a lower expression in the treated eyes (P=0.0005), while TUNEL shows also a trend indicating lower number of apoptotic cells. Our results suggest that the activation of MCs is controlled at least partially by A2a. A2a antagonism has shown to diminish glial reactivity in our model. Additionally, our current results show a lower level of apoptosis, currently being confirmed. Globally, SCH 58261 seems to have a neuroprotective effect that needs further studies to become an effective therapy in retinal degenerative diseases. Themes: C - Disorders of the Nervous System