YC-1 Inhibits VEGF and Inflammatory Mediators Expression on Experimental Central Retinal Vein Occlusion in Rhesus Monkey

ABSTRACT

Purposes: To investigate the therapeutic potential of YC-1 for experimental central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) of rhesus monkey.

Methods: Six adult rhesus monkeys were recruited in this study. Laser-induced CRVO was established in both eyes of all subjects. Intravitreal injection of YC-1 90 μl (200 μM with 0.01% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as vehicle) was administrated in right eye and 0.01% DMSO 90 μl in left eye respectively at 1 week after CRVO established. All eyes underwent routine examination at 1 day, 1 week, 2 week, and 1 month after intravitreal injection of YC-1 or DMSO. Meanwhile, vitreous fluid was collected at each time points to analyze concentration of VEGF, HIF-1α, IL-6, IL-8, and MCP-1 mediators by CBA or ELASA method.

Results: The experimental CRVO was successfully established in six rhesus monkeys. As expected, the thickness of macular edema significantly decreased at 1 week and 2 weeks after YC-1 injection compared with that of DMSO injection. Subsequently, the central macular thickness in all eyes was recovered to the initial levels at 1 month after photocoagulation. Intraocular pressure (IOP) was not significantly different between two groups during all follow up. Meanwhile, the concentration of IL-6, IL-8, VEGF, and HIF-1α in vitreous fluid significantly decreased after YC-1 injection compared with that of DMSO injection, MCP-1 was not significantly different between both groups.

Conclusions: Intravitreal injection of YC-1 significantly alleviated macular edema compared with that of DMSO control group. Meanwhile, both inflammatory factors and angiogenesis-related factors expression were inhibited in vitreous by YC-1 injection.

KEYWORDS:

• YC-1
• CRVO
• inflammatory factors
• VEGF
• HIF-1α

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciated Mr Zhengwei Lu for animal’s anesthesia and transport service, and thanks Dr JingJing Sun, Xiaoge Yang and Xiangfen Kong for experimental design and performance. We also thank Dr Ling Wang for organizing graphs for experimental data.

Disclosure statement

No any disclosure of funding or grant received for this work. Any authors have no a proprietary interest.