title: Hypoxic preconditioning and erythropoietin protect retinal neurons from degeneration.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Retinal Cell Biology, Eye Hospital Zurich and Center for Integrative Human Physiology, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grimm
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wenzel
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Acar
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seeliger
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gassmann
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D004921:Erythropoietin; D010100:Oxygen