Changes of TGF-beta1 in Rabbit Vitreous after Cryotherapy

ABSTRACT

The exact mechanism of regression of retinal neovasculari- zation was not proven yet, although panretinal photocoagu- lation and cryotherapy have been used in treatment of retinal neovascularization. Recent studies show that TGF-betaexpression after panretinal photocoagulation has relation with suppression in retinal neovascularization. We pretreat 15 eyes of rabbits with cryotherapy. Five rabbits each were killed on the day of 1,3 and 7. We measured the quantity of TGF-beta1 in vitreous of the pretreatment group and compaired with untreated eyes. The quantity of TGF-beta1 in pretreat- ment group was higher than that of the control group. There was an increase of TGF-beta1 from the first day through the third day, and a decrease on the seventh day. The value of TGF-beta1 in the pretreatment group on the third day was sig-nificantly different from that in the control (p=0.0196). We conclude that TGF-beta1 expression after cryotherpy has relation with suppression in retinal neovascularization from these results.