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

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

Córdoba

Congreso; XXXIII CONGRESO ANUAL SAN; 2018

Sociedad Argentina d eInvestigación en Neurociencias

P275.-ENRICHED ENVIRONMENT EXPOSURE PROTECTS THE VISUAL PATHWAYALTERATIONS INDUCED BY EXPERIMENTAL GLAUCOMA IN ADULT RATSFlorencia Gonzalez Fleitas,Julian Devouassoux, Marcos L Aranda, Hernan Dieguez, Damian Dorfman, Ruth RosensteinLaboratorio de Neuroquimica Retiniana y Oftalmologia Experimental, CEFYBO, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos AiresPresenting author: Maria Florencia Gonzalez Fleitas, florgf88@gmail.com_________________________________________________________________________________________Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness, characterized by retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss andoptic nerve (ON) damage. Increased intraocular pressure (IOP) is the most accepted risk factor for glaucomatous neuropathy, however many patients with successful IOP control continue to losevision. Enriched environment (EE) is a paradigm that involves sensory, cognitive, motor, and socialstimulation. The aim of this work was to analyze whether the exposure to EE preventsglaucomatous alterations. Adult male Wistar rats received 30% of chondroitin sulfate in theanterior chamber of one eye and vehicle in the contralateral eye, once a week, and were housedin standard environment (SE) or EE for 10 weeks. Animals were subjected to functional(electroretinogram and flash visual evoked potentials (VEPs)), and histological analysis. EE housingwhich did not affect IOP, prevented the decrease in VEPs and oscillatory potential amplitude, aswell as the reduction in the RGC number detected by immunostaining against Brn3a. The numberof axons identified by toluidine blue stain was also preserved by the exposure to EE. Morover, EEhousing prevented the reduction in the positive area for myelin basic protein (MBP) and luxol fastblue stain area in the ON. The increase in Iba1 (a microglia/macrophage marker) positive area inthe retina and ON was also preserved. These results suggest that the EE housing protects thevisual pathway against damage induced by experimental glaucoma in adult rats.