Establishment of model of diabetes and lens posterior capsule opacification induced by alloxan in rabbit / 中华实验眼科杂志

ABSTRACT

Background The establishment of diabetic animal model is a crucial step for the study about diabetic eye diseases. At present,the main modeling method include the injection of streptozotocin and alloxan. But the shortcoming of the former is an expensive price, and that of the later is high death rate of animals. Objective This experiment was to discuss the way which decrease the death of alloxan-injected animal and explore the effects of high blood glucose on the posterior capsular opacification (PCO). Methods Forty clean healthy male New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into 2 groups. 90mg/kg of alloxan were injected via ear vein once in 20 rabbits to create the diabetic animal models,and the equivalent amount of normal saline solution was injected at the same way as normal blood glucose group. The successful models were selected in the animals with the blood glucose level over 12. 0 mmol/L two weeks later, and PCO of lens were graded based on the method of Odrieh under the slit lamp. Extracapsular lens extraction was then performed on the right eye of rabbits in both groups, and the posterior capsules were obtained from these eyes at the 6th, 10th and 14th days after operation. The expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen ( PCNA ) in posterior capsular lens epithelial cell was detected by immunohistochemistry. Results The modeling successful rate was 70% after injection of alloxan. The body weight of rabbits in high blood glucose group was significantly lowed and the blood glucose was significantly elevated in comparison with normal blood glucose group ( all P<0. 05). Two weeks after surgery ,2 eyes occurred 2 grade of PCO and only one eye showed the 1 grade of PCO in the high blood glucose group. However, 1 grade of PCO was found in 3 eyes in the normal blood glucose group. Biopsy revealed that PCNA was positively expressed in the cell nuclei of LECs in high blood glucose group rather than the normal blood glucose group from the 10th day after surgery. The proliferation index of PCNA was 0. 86±0. 04 and 0. 25±0. 03 respectively in high blood glucose group and normal blood glucose group, showing a significant difference between them (t = -16. 171 ,P = 0. 000). Conclusion Stable diabetic models of rabbits can be created by intravenous injection of 90 mg/kg alloxan. High blood glucose level is one of the important factors for the development of PCO.