Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 May;50(5):2194-200.
doi: 10.1167/iovs.08-3013. Epub 2008 Dec 5.

Effect of CNTF on retinal ganglion cell survival in experimental glaucoma

Mary Ellen Pease  1 , Donald J Zack, Cynthia Berlinicke, Kristen Bloom, Frances Cone, Yuxia Wang, Ronald L Klein, William W Hauswirth, Harry A Quigley
Affiliations

Effect of CNTF on retinal ganglion cell survival in experimental glaucoma

Mary Ellen Pease et al. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2009 May.

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the neuroprotective effect of virally mediated overexpression of ciliary-derived neurotrophic factor (CNTF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in experimental rat glaucoma.

Methods: Laser-induced glaucoma was produced in one eye of 224 Wistar rats after injection of adenoassociated viral vectors (type 2) containing either CNTF, BDNF, or both, with saline-injected eyes and noninjected glaucomatous eyes serving as the control. IOP was measured with a hand-held tonometer, and semiautomated optic nerve axon counts were performed by masked observers. IOP exposure over time was adjusted in multivariate regression analysis to calculate the effect of CNTF and BDNF.

Results: By multivariate regression, CNTF had a significant protective effect, with 15% less RGC axon death (P < 0.01). Both combined CNTF-BDNF and BDNF overexpression alone had no statistically significant improvement in RGC axon survival. By Western blot, there was a quantitative increase in CNTF and BDNF expression in retinas exposed to single viral vectors carrying each gene, but no increase with sequential injection of both vectors.

Conclusions: These data confirm that CNTF can exert a protective effect in experimental glaucoma. The reason for the lack of observed effect in the BDNF overexpression groups is unclear, but it may be a function of the level of neurotrophin expression achieved.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Expressed BDNF and CNTF proteins are active on cultured RGCs. COS-7 cells were infected with AAV/GFP, AAV/BDNF/WPRE, or AAV/CNTF. Supernatant from the infected cells was then tested for activity on primary RGC cultures from P4 rats. After 3 days in culture, the cells were analyzed for neurite outgrowth. Total neurite outgrowth per well is shown on the Y axis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Quigley HA, Broman A. The number of persons with glaucoma worldwide in 2010 and 2020. Br J Ophthalmol. 2006;90:151–156. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Broman AT, Quigley HA, West SK, et al. Estimating the rate of progressive visual field damage among those with open-angle glaucoma from cross-sectional data. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2008;49:66–76. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Quigley HA. Neuronal death in glaucoma. Progress Ret Eye Res. 1998;18:39–57. - PubMed
    1. Kerrigan LA, Zack DJ, Quigley HA, Smith SD, Pease ME. TUNEL-positive ganglion cells in human primary open angle glaucoma. Arch Ophthalmol. 1997;115:1031–5. - PubMed
    1. Okisaka S, Murakami A, Mizukawa A, Ito J. Apoptosis in retinal ganglion cell decrease in human glaucomatous eyes. Jpn J Ophthalmol. 1997;41:84–8. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances