Hypoxic preconditioning and erythropoietin protect retinal neurons from degeneration.
Reduced tissue oxygenation stabilizes the alpha-subunit of the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1). This leads to the induction of a number of hypoxia responsive genes. One of the best known HIF-1 targets is erythropoietin that exerts neuroprotective effects on ischemia-related injury in the brain. Thus, pre-exposure to low environmental oxygen concentrations might be exploited as a preconditioning procedure to protect tissues against a variety of harmful conditions. We present recent work on neuroprotection of retinal photoreceptors induced by hypoxic preconditioning or by systemically elevated levels of Epo in mouse plasma.
Grimm
Christian
C
Laboratory of Retinal Cell Biology, Eye Hospital Zurich and Center for Integrative Human Physiology, Zurich, Switzerland.
Wenzel
A
A
Acar
N
N
Keller
S
S
Seeliger
M
M
Gassmann
Max
M
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000378:metabolism; D007511:Ischemia / Q000473:pathology; D019194:Ischemic Preconditioning; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D012160:Retina / Q000378:metabolism; D012162:Retinal Degeneration; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors; D015854:Up-Regulation
D004921:Erythropoietin; D010100:Oxygen