title: Epac2-deficiency leads to more severe retinal swelling, glial reactivity and oxidative stress in transient middle cerebral artery occlusion induced ischemic retinopathy.
abstract: Ischemia occurs in diabetic retinopathy with neuronal loss, edema, glial cell reactivity and oxidative stress. Epacs, consisting of Epac1 and Epac2, are cAMP mediators playing important roles in maintenance of endothelial barrier and neuronal functions. To investigate the roles of Epacs in the pathogenesis of ischemic retinopathy, transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) was performed on Epac1-deficient (Epac1 (-/-)) mice, Epac2-deficient (Epac2 (-/-)) mice, and their wild type counterparts (Epac1 (+/+) and Epac2 (+/+)). Two-hour occlusion and 22-hour reperfusion were conducted to induce ischemia/reperfusion injury to the retina. After tMCAO, the contralateral retinae displayed similar morphology between different genotypes. Neuronal loss, retinal edema and increase in immunoreactivity for aquaporin 4 (AQP4), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), peroxiredoxin 6 (Prx6) were observed in ipsilateral retinae. Epac2 (-/-) ipsilateral retinae showed more neuronal loss in retinal ganglion cell layer, increased retinal thickness and stronger immunostaining of AQP4, GFAP, and Prx6 than those of Epac2 (+/+). However, Epac1 (-/-) ipsilateral retinae displayed similar pathology as those in Epac1 (+/+) mice. Our observations suggest that Epac2-deficiency led to more severe ischemic retinopathy after retinal ischemia/reperfusion injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Patrick Ka Kit
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Yeung
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Amy Cheuk Yin
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.forename: Stephen Sum Man
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Sookja Kim
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051401:Aquaporin 4 / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D020662:Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000378:metabolism*; D007511:Ischemia / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000473:pathology*; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D054465:Peroxiredoxin VI / Q000235:genetics; D015427:Reperfusion Injury / Q000378:metabolism; D012160:Retina / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C496031:Aqp4 protein, mouse; D051401:Aquaporin 4; C482601:Epac protein, mouse; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D020662:Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C486707:Rapgef4 protein, mouse; C528900:glial fibrillary astrocytic protein, mouse; D054465:Peroxiredoxin VI; C515983:Prdx6 protein, mouse