This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Oshitari, T Articles by Roy, S Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Oshitari, T Articles by Roy, S

Mitochondria- and caspase-dependent cell death pathway involved in neuronal degeneration in diabetic retinopathy

¹ Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan
² Departments of Medicine and Ophthalmology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
³ Department of Ophthalmology, Kimitsu Central Hospital, Kisarazu, Japan

Correspondence to:
T Oshitari, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Inohana 1-8-1, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Chiba, Japan; tarii{at}aol.com

Background: Neuronal abnormalities are associated with the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy. However, the mechanisms for neuronal cell death in diabetic retinopathy remain unclear.

Aim: To determine whether altered expression of Bax, caspase-9 and -3 is associated with degenerative neurons in diabetic retinopathy.

Methods: Immunohistochemistry was performed on cryosections obtained from five pairs of normal and five pairs of age-matched diabetic human retinas. Diabetic eyes had no proliferative diabetic retinopathy and no histories of photocoagulation or ocular surgery. In this study, Fluoro-Jade B (FJB) was used as a marker for identification of degenerative neurons.

Results: In diabetic retinas, Bax overexpression coexisted with FJB positive signals in the ganglion cell layer (GCL) compared with very low FJB levels in the normal retina. Increased level of the active forms of caspase-9 and -3 expressions coexisted with FJB positive cells in the GCL of diabetic retinas compared with those in normal retinas.

Conclusions: Upregulation of Bax, caspase-9 and -3 expression was associated with neuronal degeneration in diabetic retinopathy. The mitochondria- and caspase-dependent cell-death pathway may be, in part, associated with neuronal degeneration in diabetic retinas.

None.

Ethics approval: All procedures involving human tissue were performed according to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. S. Kern and A. J. Barber Retinal ganglion cells in diabetes J. Physiol., September 15, 2008; 586(18): 4401 - 4408. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]