ABSTRACT
Pyroptosis is a newly discovered form of cell death.Through the activation of inflammasome complexes,pyroptosis induces the production of interleukin (IL)-1 β and IL-18,and the osmotic swelling of cells,thus induces cellular rupture and death.It plays a role in the pathological process of a variety of human diseases.The death of retinal cells including photoreceptor cells and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells is the main reason leading to visual dysfunction in the pathogenesis in ocular fundus diseases.Researches have demonstrated that pyroptosis is closely related to the onset and progression of various retinal diseases.In age-related macular degeneration,pyroptosis directly causes apoptosis of RPE cells and upregulation of proinflammatory factors,enhancing toxic effect of lipofuscin.For retinitis pigmentosa,pyroptosis is the leading manner of death of secondary cone photoreceptor cells.In cytomegalovirus retinitis,pyroptosis is the main responding way to infection.This review presented the molecular mechanism of pyroptosis and its role in age-related macular degeneration,retinitis pigmentosa and cytomegalovirus retinitis and other retinal diseases.