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Melatonin protects the retina from experimental nonexudative age-related macular degeneration in mice
J Pineal Res. 2020 May;68(4):e12643. doi: 10.1111/jpi.12643.
Hernán H Diéguez 1, María F González Fleitas 1, Marcos L Aranda 1, Juan S Calanni 1, María I Keller Sarmiento 1, Mónica S Chianelli 1, Agustina Alaimo 2, Pablo H Sande 1, Horacio E Romeo 3, Ruth E Rosenstein 1, Damián Dorfman 1
Abstract:
Nonexudative age-related macular degeneration (NE-AMD) represents the leading cause of blindness in the elderly. ...We have developed a NE-AMD model induced by superior cervical ganglionectomy (SCGx) in C57BL/6J mice, which reproduces the disease hallmarks. Several lines of evidence strongly support the involvement of oxidative stress in NE-AMD-induced retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and outer retina damage. Melatonin is a proven and safe antioxidant. Our aim was analysing the effect of melatonin in the RPE/outer retina damage within experimental NE-AMD. The treatment with melatonin starting 48 h after SCGx, which had no effect on the ubiquitous choriocapillaris widening, protected visual functions and avoided Bruch's membrane thickening, RPE melanin content, melanosome number loss, retinoid isomerohydrolase (RPE65)-immunoreactivity decrease, and RPE and hotoreceptor ultrastructural damage induced within experimental NE-AMD exclusively located at the central temporal (but not nasal) region. Melatonin also prevented the increase in outer retina/RPE oxidative stress markers and a decrease in mitochondrial mass at 6 weeks post-SCGx. Moreover, when the treatment with melatonin started at 4 weeks post-SCGx, it restored visual functions and reversed the decrease in RPE melanin content and RPE65-immunoreactivity. These findings suggest that melatonin could become a promising safe therapeutic strategy for NE-AMD.
PMID: 32133696
Tags: AMD, melatonin, mice, Vision restoration