Sirtuin1 Over-Expression Does Not Impact Retinal Vascular and Neuronal Degeneration in a Mouse Model of Oxygen-Induced Retinopathy
Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: Proliferative retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness, including retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in children and diabetic retinopathy in adults. Retinopathy is characterized by an initial phase of vessel loss, leading to tissue ischemia and hypoxia, followed by sight threatening pathologic neovascularization in the second phase. Previously we found that Sirtuin1 (Sirt1), a metabolically dependent protein deacetylase, regulates vascular regeneration in a mouse model of oxygen-induced proliferative retinopathy (OIR), as neuronal depletion of Sirt1 in retina worsens retinopathy. In this study we assessed whether over-expression of Sirtuin1 in retinal neurons and vessels achieved by crossing Sirt1 over-expressing flox mice with Nestin-Cre mice or Tie2-Cre mice, respectively, may protect against retinopathy. We found that over-expression of Sirt1 in Nestin expressing retinal neurons does not impact vaso-obliteration or pathologic neovascularization in OIR, nor does it influence neuronal degeneration in OIR. Similarly, increased expression of Sirt1 in Tie2 expressing vascular endothelial cells and monocytes/macrophages does not protect retinal vessels in OIR. In addition to the genetic approaches, dietary supplement with Sirt1 activators, resveratrol or SRT1720, were fed to wild type mice with OIR. Neither treatment showed significant vaso-protective effects in retinopathy. Together these results indicate that although endogenous Sirt1 is important as a stress-induced protector in retinopathy, over-expression of Sirt1 or treatment with small molecule activators at the examined doses do not provide additional protection against retinopathy in mice. Further studies are needed to examine in depth whether increasing levels of Sirt1 may serve as a potential therapeutic approach to treat or prevent retinopathy.
Source: PLoS ONE
Language: English
Subfield: Geriatrics and Gerontology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,382
Funders: Glenn Foundation for Medical Research, Charles H. Hood Foundation, BrightFocus Foundation, V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation, United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, Lowy Medical Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research, Boston Children's Hospital, National Institute on Aging, National Eye Institute, Alcon Research Institute, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Awards: G2493460474, Neuronal guidance molecules control revascularization in retinopathy, G4505565575, Role of epigenetic decay in cell senescence and aging, G5586389099, Intellectual and Developmental Disablities Research Center, G9000079542, Dietary control of angiogenesis in retinopathy models, G916313173
OpenAlex ID: W2138039127