Oral administration of lumiracoxib reduces choroidal neovascular membrane development in the rat laser-trauma model.

Purpose: To determine whether lumiracoxib, a highly selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor that exhibits anti-inflammatory and antiangiogenic properties, can inhibit experimental choroidal neovascular membrane (CNVM) development induced by focal laser trauma in a well-characterized Brown Norway rat CNVM model.

Methods: Over a 35-day period, 24 rats received daily oral gavage dosages of 20 mg/kg lumiracoxib in a 0.5% (w/v) suspension of sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), while a control group received the 0.

Effects of unoprostone and endothelin 1 on L-type channel currents in human trabecular meshwork cells.

Background: The trabecular meshwork (TM) is a smooth muscle-like tissue with contractile properties and by this mechanisms involved in the regulation of aqueous humor outflow. Isopropyl unoprostone (Rescula, Novartis Ophthalmics), a synthetic docosanoid, reduces intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients and normal subjects. In isolated TM strips, unoprostone reduces TM contractility in the presence of endothelin 1 (ET-1).

Genetic difference in susceptibility to the blood-retina barrier breakdown in diabetes and oxygen-induced retinopathy.

The breakdown of the blood-retina barrier (BRB) is a common feature of diabetic retinopathy. The purpose of the present study is to determine whether there are genetic differences in susceptibility to the breakdown of the BRB in diabetic retinopathy using two rat models. In streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes, Brown Norway (BN) rats developed sustained vascular hyperpermeability in the retina during the entire experimental period (16 weeks of diabetes), while diabetic Sprague Dawley (SD) rats only showed retinal hyperpermeability from 3 to 10 days after the onset of diabetes.

Hypoxia activates matrix metalloproteinase expression and the VEGF system in monkey choroid-retinal endothelial cells: Involvement of cytosolic phospholipase A2 activity.

Purpose: To determine whether the gene expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) as well as that of the pro-angiogenic cytokine vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptors change in response to hypoxic exposure in a primate choroid-retinal endothelial cell line, and furthermore, whether cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) plays a role in this process.

Methods: Rhesus macaque choroid-retinal endothelial (RF/6A) cells were incubated under hypoxic conditions for 1, 2, 4, or 8 h prior to RNA extraction. In some experiments cells were pretreated with the cPLA2 inhibitor AACOCF3 (10 microM) for 30 min prior to hypoxia.

Coordinate activation of HIF-1 and NF-kappaB DNA binding and COX-2 and VEGF expression in retinal cells by hypoxia.

Purpose: Proinflammatory signaling mechanisms are implicated in the induction of retinal neovascularization (NV) during ischemic retinopathies. This study examined transcription factor (TF) AP-1, HIF-1, and NF-kappaB DNA-binding in relation to cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and VEGF RNA and protein levels in hypoxia-triggered monkey choroidal retinal (RF/6A) endothelial cells. Effects of the carboxamide CGP43182 were tested on COX-2 and VEGF activation and prostaglandin (PG)E(2) release.