The Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Properties of Acebuche Oil Exert a Retinoprotective Effect in a Murine Model of High-Tension Glaucoma.

Glaucoma is characterized by cupping of the optic disc, apoptotic degeneration of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and their axons, and thinning of the retinal nerve fiber layer, with patchy loss of vision. Elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) is a major risk factor for hypertensive glaucoma and the only modifiable one. There is a need to find novel compounds that counteract other risk factors contributing to RGC degeneration.

β-Adrenoceptors in Cancer: Old Players and New Perspectives.

Distress, or negative stress, is known to considerably increase the incidence of several diseases, including cancer. There is indeed evidence from pre-clinical models that distress causes a catecholaminergic overdrive that, mainly through the activation of β-adrenoceptors (β-ARs), results in cancer cell growth and cancer progression. In addition, clinical studies have evidenced a role of negative stress in cancer progression.

Neurosensory Alterations in Retinopathy of Prematurity: A Window to Neurological Impairments Associated to Preterm Birth.

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is one of the main blinding diseases affecting preterm newborns and is classically considered a vascular disorder. The premature exposure to the extrauterine environment, which is hyperoxic in respect to the intrauterine environment, triggers a cascade of events leading to retinal ischemia which, in turn, makes the retina hypoxic thus setting off angiogenic processes. However, many children with a history of ROP show persistent vision impairment, and there is evidence of an association between ROP and neurosensory disabilities.

HIF-1-Dependent Induction of β3 Adrenoceptor: Evidence from the Mouse Retina.

A major player in the homeostatic response to hypoxia is the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1 that transactivates a number of genes involved in neovessel proliferation in response to low oxygen tension. In the retina, hypoxia overstimulates β-adrenoceptors (β-ARs) which play a key role in the formation of pathogenic blood vessels. Among β-ARs, β3-AR expression is increased in proliferating vessels in concomitance with increased levels of HIF-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).

Getting from A to B-exploring the activation motifs of the class B adhesion G protein-coupled receptor subfamily G member 4/GPR112.

The adhesion G protein-coupled receptors [ADGRs/class B2 G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs)] constitute an ancient family of GPCRs that have recently been demonstrated to play important roles in cellular and developmental processes. Here, we describe a first insight into the structure-function relationship of ADGRs using the family member ADGR subfamily G member 4 (ADGRG4)/GPR112 as a model receptor. In a bioinformatics approach, we compared conserved, functional elements of the well-characterized class A and class B1 secretin-like GPCRs with the ADGRs.