Neuroprotective Effect of Compound Anisodine in a Mouse Model with Chronic Ocular Hypertension / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Compound anisodine (CA) is a compound preparation made from hydrobromide anisodine and procaine hydrochloride. The former is an M-choline receptor blocker with the function of regulating the vegetative nervous system, improving microcirculation, and so on. The latter is an antioxidant with the activities of neuroprotection. This study aimed to investigate the potential neuroprotection of CA, which affects the degeneration of the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in an animal model with chronic ocular hypertension.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Female C57BL/6J mice (n = 24) were divided randomly into four groups: normal control group without any treatment (Group A, n = 6); CA control group with feeding the CA solution (Group B, n = 6); microbeads (MBs) control group with injecting MB into the anterior chamber (Group C, n = 6); CA study group with MB injection and with feeding the CA solution (Group D, n = 6). Intraocular pressure (IOP) was measured every 3 days after MB injection. At the 21st day, neurons were retrograde-labeled by Fluoro-Gold (FG). Animals were sacrificed on the 27th day. Retinal flat mounts were stained immunohistologically by α2-III-tubulin. FG-retrograde-labeled RGCs, α2-III-tubulin-positive RGCs, and α2-III-tubulin-positive nerve fibers were quantified.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Mice of Groups C and D expressed the incidence of consistent IOP elevation, which is above the IOP level of Group A with the normal one. There is no significant difference in IOP between Groups A and B (P > 0.05). On the 27th day, there were distinct loss in stained RGCs and nerve fibers from Groups C and D compared with Group A (allP < 0.001). The quantity was significantly higher in Group D as compared to Group C (allP < 0.001) but lower than Group A (allP > 0.001). There was no significant difference in the quantity of RGCs and nerve fibers between Groups A and B (allP > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>These findings suggest that CA plays an importantly neuroprotective role on RGCs in a mouse model with chronic ocular hypertension.</p>

Surgical Indications of Exploring Optic Canal and Visual Prognostic Factors in Neurosurgical Treatment of Tuberculum Sellae Meningiomas / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Tuberculum sellae meningiomas (TSMs) present a special symptom because of the adherence and compression to the optic nerve, optic artery, and the chiasm. A significant number of patients with TSMs appear visual deficits. This study aimed to investigate the surgical indications of exploring the optic canal and visual prognostic factors in the neurosurgical treatment of TSMs.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 21 patients with TSM, who were operated from September 2007 to August 2011 in the Department of Neurosurgery, Tongren Hospital were enrolled in this study. Results of orbital computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), visual acuity, Goldmann visual field test, orbital color Doppler flow imaging (CDI) test in these patients were retrospectively analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Visual deficit and optic canal involvement (OCI) were detected in all the 21 patients. Fourteen patients had bone proliferation within the area of the optic canal. After the operation, visual outcomes were improved in 13 patients, unchanged in 7 patients, and deteriorated in 1 patient. All the 21 patients performed orbital CDI test preoperatively, the results showed that if the peak systolic velocity (PSV) of central retinal artery (CRA) value was ≤ 8 cm/s, the visual outcome would be better.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The surgical indications of exploring optic canal in TSM cases included: (1) The neuroimaging evidences of OCI (CT and/or MRI); (2) PSV of CRA in orbital CDI test was ≤ 8 cm/s; (3) visual acuity was below 0.1; (4) visual field deficit. The PSV of CRA in CDI test could be a prognostic factor for visual outcomes of TSMs.</p>

Clinical features of retinal diseases masquerading as retrobulbar optic neuritis / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Managements of optic neuritis (ON) included high-dose corticosteroids or combined with systemic immunomodulatory agents. It was important to make a correct diagnosis of ON before initiation of treatment. The purpose of the study was to report and analyze the clinical features of retinal diseases in patients who were misdiagnosed as having retrobulbar ON.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Retrospective review of 26 patients (38 eyes) initially diagnosed with retrobulbar ON but were ultimately diagnosed with retinal or macular diseases. Data obtained from fundus examination, fluorescence fundus angiography (FFA), automated static perimetry, full-field electroretinogram (ffERG), multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG), and optical coherence tomography (OCT) were evaluated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Thirty-eight eyes of 26 patients were found to have misdiagnosis of retrobulbar ON, based on normal or slight abnormal fundus findings and abnormal visual evoked potentials (VEP). The mean age of the patients was 34 years and the correct diagnosis of the patients included acute zonal occult outer retinopathy (AZOOR, 15 eyes, 14 patients), occult macular dystrophy (OMD, 8 eyes, 4 patients), cone or cone-rod dystrophy (10 eyes, 5 patients), acute macular neuroretinopathy (AMNR, 3 eyes, 2 patients), and cancer-associated retinopathy (CAR, 2 eyes, 1 patient).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>When attempting to diagnose retrobulbar ON in clinical practice, it is crucial to carry out necessary examinations of the retinal function and morphology to decrease misdiagnosis.</p>

Neuroprotective effect of epigallocatechin-3-gallate on lateral geniculate nucleus after optic nerve crush in rats / 中华实验眼科杂志

Background Researches demonstrated that epigallocatechin-3-gallate(EGCG) can protect retinal ganglion cells(RGCs) against damage induced by retinal ischemia-reperfusion and optic nerve crush(ONC),but the effect of EGCG on lateral geniculate nucleus(LGN) was under study.Objective This study was designed to detect neuroprotective effect of EGCG on LGN in the rat model with ONC.Methods Forty-eight 7-week-old female clean Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal control group,sham operation+EGCG group,ONC+normal saline(NS) group and ONC+EGCG group.ONC models were created by clamping the optical nerve for 60 seconds with the clipper with the force of 40 grams in the right eyes of 24 rats.The EGCG solution(25mg/kg) was intraperitoneally injected from 2 days before operation daily for 5 consecutively days and orally administered(2mg/kg) after that,and NS was used in the same way for ONC+NS group.Four weeks after ONC,the brain tissue of the rats was obtained,and the neurons of dorsal LGN(dLGN) were counted by Nissl staining under the light microscopy.The expression of neurofilament triplet L(NF-L) was detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis.Meanwhile,the neuronal nitric oxide synthase(nNOS) positive cells were counted.Results Compared with normal control group,no significant differences were found in neuron number both between sham operation+EGCG group or ipsilateral LGN of operative eyes in ONC+normal saline group and ONC+EGCG group(P=0.906,0.561,0.794,0.646 respectively) in 4 weeks after ONC,but loss of neurons in contralateral LGN in both ONC+normal saline group and ONC+EGCG group were observed(P=0.000,0.015 respectively).However,compared with ONC+normal saline group,the density of neurons in ONC+EGCG group was higher(P=0.007).Moreover,a higher expression level of NF-L protein was seen in ONC+EGCG group compared with ONC+normal saline group at contralateral LGN of operative eyes(P=0.002).Concerning the number of nNOS positive cells in LGN,there was no significant difference among normal control group,sham operation+EGCG group and ONC+EGCG group(P＞0.05).The number of nNOS positive cells in the contralateral LGN of operative eyes of ONC+normal saline group was higher than that of ONC+EGCG group(P=0.000).Conclusion EGCG plays the protective effect on LGN after ONC in rats through mediating the expression of nNOS.

Effects of epigallocatechin-3-gallate on expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein in optic nerve crush model / 中华实验眼科杂志

Background Our previous study demonstrated that epigallocateehin-gallate(EGCG),an active ingredient of green tea,has protective effect on optical nerve after optic nerve crush.Astrocyte was proved to play key role in the repair of nerve tissue,but the influence of EGCG on astrocyte is unclear.Glial flbrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a special marker for astrocyte. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of EGCG on the expression of GFAP in optic nerve tissue after optic nerve crush. Methods Seventy-two clean Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal control group,sham+EGCG group,optic nerve crush+normal saline group(vehicle group),optic nerve crush+EGCG group.Optic nerve crush models were established by clamping optical nerve for 60 seconds by minitype optic nerve clipper with the force of 40 gram.Only ocular tissue was cut in the rats in sham group.Normal saline solution or EGCG(25 mg/kg)was intraperitoneally injected daily for 5 days consecutively and orally administered(2 mg/kg)daily afterwards.The expression of GFAP in optic nerve was detected by immunohistochemistry and quantified by Western blotting analysis on day 7,14 and 28 after modeling. Results lmmunochemistry showed that GFAP were weakly expressed in the rats of both normal group and sham+EGCG group with the sliSht brown staining in optic nerve tissue.The deeply brown staining for GFAP was seen in vehicle group,and the staining intensity weakened in optic nerve crush+EGCG group compared to vehicle group on days 7,14 and 28 after modeling.Western blotting analysis revealed that the expression level of GFAP in rat optic nerve tissue of vehicle group was significantly enhanced in comparison with normal control group(P＜0.01).On day 7 and 14 after optic nerve modeling,the expression levels of GFAP were evidently decreased in optic nerve crush+EGCG group in comparison with vehicle group(P＜0.05).However,on day 28 after modeling,no significant difference wag found in the expression levels of GFAP between vehicle group and optic nerve erush+EGCG group(P＞0.05). Conclusion EGCG down-regulates optic nerve crush-induced of GFAP in the optic nerve and therefore attenuates the activity of astrocytes,suggesting that EGCG might reduce the formation of glial scar.