| BackgroundThe proliferation of retinal neovascularization is the pathological basis of blindness caused by many kinds of ocular vascular diseases,but the specific mechanism is unknown.(OIR)mouse model of oxygen-induced retinopathy is the most classic animal model to study the formation and prognosis of retinal neovascularization.Connexin 43(Cx43)plays an important role in the metabolism,proliferation,differentiation and homeostasis of retinal cells.The study on the dynamic expression of Cx43 and neovascularization in the retina of OIR mice has not been reported.In this study,we established an OIR mouse model to observe the growth changes of retinal neovascularization and the expression of Cx43 in different periods,and to explore the role of Cx43 in the pathogenesis of ocular neovascular diseases.ObjectiveTo explore the role of Cx43 in the occurrence and development of retinal neovascularization by dynamically studying the expression of Cx43 in the retina of OIR model mice at different stages.Methods80 7-day-old C57BL/6J neonatal mice were randomly divided into OIR group(n=40)and normal control group(n=40).The suckling mice in the control group were fed in normal air,while the suckling mice in the OIR group were exposed to oxygen box with oxygen concentration of(75±2)% for 5 days to establish OIR model.In both groups,10mice(20 eyes)in each group were randomly selected and killed at the age of 12 days(P12),14 days(P14),17 days(P17)and 21 days(P21),and their eyeballs were removed.Among them,3 mice(6 eyes)underwent retinal smears to observe the changes of retinal neovascularization,and the retinal tissues of the remaining 7 mice(14 eyes)were taken to detect the dynamic expression of Cx43 by Western blot method.Results(1)Retinal lamination: The retinal blood vessels in the normal control group were radially distributed with the optic disc as the center,presenting a uniform network structure,and the blood vessels were normal in shape and clear in shape.In the OIR group,a large area of vascular occlusion was seen in the center of the retina at P12,capillaries were distributed around the retina,and no neovascularization cluster was seen around the vascular occlusion area.At P14,a few neovascularization clusters appeared around the occlusion area.At P17,the proliferation of neovascularization reached its peak,and a large number of neovascularization clusters and tortuous vessels were observed.Compared with P17,the neovascularization at P21 partially subsided and the neovascularization cluster shrank.(2)Western blot results showed that Cx43 expression was observed in the retinal tissues of mice in both control group and OIR group.In the normal control group,the expression of Cx43 was relatively high at P12,and then decreased gradually.The protein expression levels of Cx43 in P14,P17 and P21 groups were compared with those in P12 group,and the differences were statistically significant(all P<0.05).In the OIR group,the expression of Cx43 was relatively higher at P17,and there was statistically significant difference in the expression of Cx43 protein between the P12,P14 and P21 groups(all P<0.05).At P12 and P14,the expression level of Cx43 protein in retinal tissue of mice in OIR group was decreased compared with that in control group.At P17,the expression level of Cx43 in the retinal tissue of mice in the OIR group was significantly higher than that in the normal control group,and there were statistically significant differences in the expression level of Cx43 P12,P14 and P17 between the two groups(all P<0.05),while there was no statistically significant difference in the expression level of Cx43 P21 between the two groups(P>0.05).ConclusionCx43 may be one of the positive regulatory factors in the process of retinal neovascularization and promote the formation and development of pathological retinal neovascularization in OIR mice. |
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