concanavalin-a and Retinal-Diseases

Retinal hemorrhages occur in a variety of sight-threatening conditions including ocular trauma, high altitude retinopathy, and chronic diseases such as diabetic and hypertensive retinopathies. The goal of this study is to investigate the effects of blood in the vitreous on retinal vascular function in rats.. Intravitreal injections of autologous blood, plasma kallikrein (PK), bradykinin, and collagenase were performed in Sprague-Dawley and Long-Evans rats. Retinal vascular permeability was measured using vitreous fluorophotometry and Evans blue dye permeation. Leukostasis was measured by fluorescein isothiocyanate-coupled concanavalin A lectin and acridine orange labeling. Retinal hemorrhage was examined on retinal flatmounts. Primary cultures of bovine retinal pericytes were cultured in the presence of 25 nM PK for 24 hours. The pericyte-conditioned medium was collected and the collagen proteome was analyzed by tandem mass spectrometry.. Intravitreal injection of autologous blood induced retinal vascular permeability and retinal leukostasis, and these responses were ameliorated by PK inhibition. Intravitreal injections of exogenous PK induced retinal vascular permeability, leukostasis, and retinal hemorrhage. Proteomic analyses showed that PK increased collagen degradation in pericyte-conditioned medium and purified type IV collagen. Intravitreal injection of collagenase mimicked PK's effect on retinal hemorrhage.. Intraocular hemorrhage increases retinal vascular permeability and leukostasis, and these responses are mediated, in part, via PK. Intravitreal injections of either PK or collagenase, but not bradykinin, induce retinal hemorrhage in rats. PK exerts collagenase-like activity that may contribute to blood-retinal barrier dysfunction.

Topics: Animals; Blood; Blood-Retinal Barrier; Bradykinin; Capillary Permeability; Cattle; Cells, Cultured; Collagenases; Concanavalin A; Evans Blue; Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate; Fluorophotometry; Intravitreal Injections; Leukostasis; Male; Pericytes; Plasma Kallikrein; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Retinal Diseases; Retinal Hemorrhage; Retinal Vessels; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Vitreous Body

To study if the endogenous renin-angiotensin system affects diabetic retinal leukostasis, rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes were treated with an ACE inhibitor (ramipril), an angiotensin II AT(1) receptor antagonist (losartan) and the Ca channel blocker, (nifedipine). In the diabetic rats, these drug treatments reduced systolic blood pressure by approximately 16 mmHg but did not change blood glucose. After 2 weeks, the rats were examined for retinal leukostasis in vivo with a scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO). Retinal leukostasis, which was defined as no movement of arrested leukocytes over 2 min, was markedly higher in diabetic rats than normal controls (P<0.01). Leukostasis was significantly decreased by ramipril and losartan (P<0.01 vs. untreated diabetic rats) but was still higher than normal. Retinal leukostasis after nifedipine treatment was not significantly different than in untreated diabetic rats. The same trend was observed when leukostasis was analyzed on retinal flat mounts with concanavalin A and CD45 immunofluorescence; ramipril and losartan treatment, however, decreased leukostasis to values no different than controls. Retinal leukostasis was lowered by nifedipine (P<0.05, untreated diabetes vs. nifedipine-treated) but was still higher than in normal, ramipril-, or losartan-treated rats. Assays of gene expression of retinal intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM-1) by semi-quantitative RT-PCR indicated that ICAM-1 mRNA was increased in diabetic rats but was decreased markedly by treatment with losartan or ramipril, and modestly by nifedipine. In summary, suppressing the activity of the endogenous renin-angiotensin system markedly decreases, perhaps even normalizes, the retinal leukostasis that accompanies type I diabetes in rats. These effects seem to be partly independent of blood pressure and to be associated with a decrease in ICAM-1 gene expression. Angiotensin II may, thus, mediate retinal leukostasis in early diabetes.

Topics: Angiotensin II; Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor Blockers; Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors; Animals; Blood Glucose; Blood Pressure; Calcium Channel Blockers; Concanavalin A; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental; Diabetic Retinopathy; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1; Leukocyte Common Antigens; Leukostasis; Losartan; Male; Nifedipine; Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase, Non-Receptor Type 1; Ramipril; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Retina; Retinal Diseases

Carbohydrate-containing macromolecules on pigment epithelium (PE) and photoreceptor outer segment (OS) membranes of 14 to 16-day-old Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rats and their genetic control (RCS-rdy+) have been localized with peroxidase-conjugated lectins from wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), Ricinus communis (RCA), Lens culinaris (LCA), and concanavalin A (Con A). All lectins stain the plasma membranes of photoreceptor inner segments and intact OSs of normal (RCS-rdy+) and dystrophic (RCS) retinas. In the normal retinas, all lectins stain also the plasma membranes of shed OSs, and WGA stains some intradisc membranes. In contrast, WGA, RCA, and Con A do not label the OS debris membranes in dystrophic retinas, but LCA labels some of them. In both normal and dystophic retinas, WGA uniformly labels both proximal and distal membrane surfaces of PE mcirovilli, whereas RCA labels primarily the distal regions. Con A labels both normal and dystrophic PE microvilli sparsely, and LCA stains the PE microvilli in RCS-rdy+ retinas more intensely than those in the RCS retinas. The major differences between the lectin labeling in normal and dystrophic retinas are the presence of LCA staining on OS debris and the absence of any other lectin staining on these membranes. Other differences are the sparse LCA staining on dystrophic PE microvillous membranes vs. the normal and the presence of WGA staining on OS intradisc membranes of normal retinas. These differences may reflect changes in the accessibility or composition of certain cell surface sugars on OS membranes and PE microvilli which may be related to the diminished rate of phagocytosis in RCS retinas.

Topics: Agglutinins; Animals; Binding Sites; Cell Membrane; Concanavalin A; Fabaceae; Lectins; Microscopy, Electron; Photoreceptor Cells; Pigment Epithelium of Eye; Plant Lectins; Plants, Medicinal; Plants, Toxic; Rats; Retinal Diseases; Ricinus; Staining and Labeling