Methylene blue postnatal application protects from retinal damage induced by perinatal asphyxia.

JC. FERNANDEZ; VB. DORFMAN; CF. LOIDL; M. SOLIÑO; JJ. LÓPEZ.; I. LARRAYOZ; R. PELÁEZ; DS. CONTARTESE; A. MARTÍNEZ

Vancouver

Congreso; ARVO Annual Meeitng; 2019

ARVO

Methylene blue postnatal application protects from retinal damageinduced by perinatal asphyxiaPosterboard#: B0291Abstract Number: 1654 - B0291AuthorBlock: Rafael Peláez1, Juan Carlos Fernández2, Manuel Rey-Funes2, Manuel Soliño2, Daniela S.Contartese2, Verónica B. Dorfman3, Juan Jose López-Costa2, Alfredo Martínez4, César Fabián Loidl2, IgnacioM. Larráyoz11Biomarkers and molecular signaling, Center for Biomedical Research of La Rioja (CIBIR), Logroño, La Rioja,Spain; 2Neuropatología Experimental, Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia ?Prof. E. De Robertis?(IBCN), Facultad de Medicina, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina; 3Centro de EstudiosBiomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y Diagnóstico (CEBBAD), University Maimónides, Buenos Aires,Argentina; 4Angiogenesis Unit, Rioja Salud Foundation, Logroño, Spain;DisclosureBlock: Rafael Peláez, None; Juan Carlos Fernández, None; Manuel Rey-Funes, None; ManuelSoliño, None; Daniela S. Contartese, None; Verónica B. Dorfman, None; Juan Jose López-Costa, None;Alfredo Martínez, None; César Fabián Loidl, None; Ignacio M. Larráyoz, None;PurposePerinatal asphyxia (PA) induces retinal lesions, generating ischemic proliferative retinopathy (IPR) andretinopathy of prematurity (ROP), which may result in blindness. Methylene blue (MB), a well-known nitric oxidesynthase (NOS) inhibitor, has been recently proposed as a protective agent against retinal damage. In thepresent work we analyze the protective role of MB therapeutic administration against retinal damage induced byPAMethodsRat pups were treated in 4 different ways: 1) CTL group comprised born to term animals; 2) MB groupcomprised born to term animals treated with MB (2 mg/kg, s.c.); 3) PA group comprised rat pups exposed toperinatal asphyxia for 20 min (water bath immersion); and 4) MB-PA group comprised animals subjected to PAand treated with MB (2 mg/kg, s.c.) 60 min after asphixia. For molecular studies, mRNA was obtained 2 to 24hafter asphyxia. For morphological and biochemical analysis tissue was collected 5 and 30 days later. Data werestatistically analyzed by ANOVA and differences were considered statistically significant when p < 0.05ResultsIn newborn retinas, MB administration suppressed PA-induced upregulation of iNOS, VEFG and MMP9 mRNA.Five days after birth, PA group presented extensive ganglion cell death, as shown by TUNEL assay. MBtreatment reduced TUNEL-positive cells by 50% (p < 0.001). At 30 days, animals subjected to PA showed asignificant increase of inner retina thickness which was prevented by MB treatment (p < 0.05)ConclusionsApplication of MB, 1 hour after PA, reduced the morphological and biochemical parameters of IPR and ROP ina PA model. This finding suggests MB could be applied as an ophthalmological therapy following acute cases ofobstetric complications to prevent or decrease retinal damage in the context of IPR and ROP