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Abstract
Purpose: Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a powerful hallucinogen with high potential for abuse. There is far less known about its effects on the retina, especially the underlying mechanisms. This study was to investigate the acute toxicity of LSD on the retina of C57 mice and its mechanisms of action.
Methods: C57 mice were treated with LSD at progressively increasing doses (0.2–1.2 mg/kg) intraperitoneally two times daily for 5 days, mice treated with saline served as negative control. Electroretinography (ERG) was used to test the function of the retina. Toluidine blue staining was used to detect the morphology of the retina. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure the apoptosis-related factors. Real-time PCR and western blot techniques were used to measure expression changes of genes and proteins, respectively.
Results: LSD treatment caused retinal damage, as shown by a decrease in ERG response and the loss of photoreceptor cells. LSD treatment also increased apoptosis through up-regulating the expression of p-JAK1/p-STAT1.
Conclusions: Our study indicated that intraperitoneal administration of LSD-induced retinal damage of C57 mice, at least partially through regulating the JAK/STAT pathway.
Ethical approval
All animal procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of 958 Army Hospital and were conducted in accordance with the regulation of the ARVO Statement for the Use of Animals in Ophthalmic and Vision Research.
Authors’ contribution
Study concepts and design: Ying Li; Experimental studies: Kang Chen, Xiangyu He, Chen Li, Yangjin Ou, Yiru Li, Jia Lai; Data analysis: Kang Chen, Yiru Li, Jia Lai, Meng Lv, Xuqing Li, Ping Ran; Manuscript preparation: Kang Chen, Ying Li
Disclosure statement
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.