Archives

  • 2018-07
  • 2018-10
  • 2018-11
  • 2019-04
  • 2019-05
  • 2019-06
  • 2019-07
  • 2019-08
  • 2019-09
  • 2019-10
  • 2019-11
  • 2019-12
  • 2020-01
  • 2020-02
  • 2020-03
  • 2020-04
  • 2020-05
  • 2020-06
  • 2020-07
  • 2020-08
  • 2020-09
  • 2020-10
  • 2020-11
  • 2020-12
  • 2021-01
  • 2021-02
  • 2021-03
  • 2021-04
  • 2021-05
  • 2021-06
  • 2021-07
  • 2021-08
  • 2021-09
  • 2021-10
  • 2021-11
  • 2021-12
  • 2022-01
  • 2022-02
  • 2022-03
  • 2022-04
  • 2022-05
  • 2022-06
  • 2022-07
  • 2022-08
  • 2022-09
  • 2022-10
  • 2022-11
  • 2022-12
  • 2023-01
  • 2023-02
  • 2023-03
  • 2023-04
  • 2023-05
  • 2023-06
  • 2023-07
  • 2023-08
  • 2023-09
  • 2023-10
  • 2023-11
  • 2023-12
  • 2024-01
  • 2024-02
  • 2024-03
  • Current therapeutic interventions are directed both to preve

    2019-10-17

    Current therapeutic interventions are directed both to prevent (primarily by proper glycemic control) and to treat the advanced stages of diabetic retinopathy, when vision has already been significantly affected. Although these therapies can be very effective in preventing, delaying or reducing vision deterioration in some cases, there is no cure for the disease. Furthermore, the current therapies have several potential adverse effects and a substantial number of patients with diabetic macular edema and proliferative diabetic retinopathy do not respond positively [18]. For these reasons, the development of new pharmacological strategies for early stages of diabetic retinopathy is urgently needed. We previously reported that treatment of both Zucker Diabetic Fatty (ZDF) rats, a model of type 2 diabetes (T2D), and the streptozotocin (STZ) model of type 1 diabetes (T1D) with sitagliptin, a DPP-4 inhibitor, reduces retinal inflammation and improves microvascular barrier properties [19,20]. These findings indicate that the beneficial effects of sitagliptin in the diabetic retina are beyond its known mechanism of action, namely the increase of insulin secretion, and are possibly linked to direct effects on endothelial Afuresertib and (EC). Therefore, a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the protective effects induced by the inhibition of DPP-4 on the retinal microvasculature is needed. In this study, we investigated the role of sitagliptin under conditions of TNF-α-induced EC dysfunction.
    Materials and methods
    Results
    Discussion In the present study, we provide evidence that sitagliptin has protective effects against retinal EC dysfunction triggered by inflammatory conditions. Using primary cultures of retinal EC, we demonstrate that sitagliptin prevents the negative impact of TNF-α on bovine retinal EC migration and capillary morphogenesis. The treatments neither affect cell proliferation nor viability, possibly due to the relatively short exposure time (up to 6 h). However, when cultured in Matrigel, endothelial cells treated with sitagliptin were able to reorganize in this short exposure period formingtube-like structures, and therefore preventing, at least partially, the inhibitory effect of TNF-alpha. It has been shown that TNF-α and IL1-β attenuate EC migration and capillary morphogenesis [12], which seems to be associated with increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and production of nitrates/nitrites, as well as with changes in the production of extracellular matrix proteins. Increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-α, have been detected in the vitreous of patients with diabetic retinopathy [[25], [26], [27], [28]] and also in the retinas of diabetic rats [29,30]. Furthermore, these pro-inflammatory cytokines promote vascular permeability, leukocyte adhesion and retinal cell death [[29], [30], [31], [32], [33]]. We have previously demonstrated that inhibition of DPP-4 with sitagliptin, in a T1D animal model, has several protective effects in the retina, including the inhibition of both BRB breakdown and disassembly/disorganization of tight junction complexes, as well as inhibition of neuroinflammation and cell death by apoptosis [19]. These results point to direct protective effects of sitagliptin in the retina that are independent of its anti-hyperglycemic effects. Those protective effects may rely on the increased levels of endogenous incretin hormone glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), which exerts cytoprotective actions. In fact, long-acting GLP-1 analogs, like exendin-4, reduce retinal vascular permeability in type 2 diabetic Goto-Kakizaki rats and inhibit the upregulation of the intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expression [34]. Also, Hernandez and colleagues found that topical administration of either GLP-1 agonists [35] or DPP-4 inhibitors [36] led to similar vascular and neuroprotective effects in diabetic retinas, suggesting that these effects may be attributed to GLP-1 receptor activation. Nevertheless, other mechanisms unrelated to the prevention of GLP-1 degradation may be involved since DPP-4 has numerous other substrates that can be differentially expressed in response to TNF-α, contributing to the observed protective effects [37]. Furthermore, we have recently shown that exendin-4 significantly reduces the BRB permeability triggered by ischemia-reperfusion injury, and this effect was also associated to the downregulation of classical inflammatory markers [22]. However, exendin-4 failed to prevent the increase of primary retinal EC permeability induced by TNF-α and VEGF, known to be upregulated in diabetic retinas [22]. Similarly, herein sitagliptin did not prevent the increase in bovine retinal EC permeability or tight junction disassembly triggered by exposure to TNF-α. These results suggest that the effects of GLP-1 agonists and DPP-4 inhibitors on BRB permeability might be mediated by other cells responding to these drugs. In fact, we reported that exendin-4 has an anti-inflammatory effect by preventing the synthesis of factors by the resident immune cells of the retina (microglia) and known to increase vascular permeability [22] In the present study, inhibition of DPP-4 seems to improve EC function in vitro. Further studies are warranted to determine which cells are responding to sitagliptin and promoting the beneficial effects on the BRB in the diabetic retinas.