mRNA expression of ciliary neurotrophic factor during injury and repair of optic nerves in rats / 中华眼底病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the mRNA expression of ciliary n eurotrophic factor on the retina during injury and repair of optic nerves in rat s. Methods Thirty-five healthy SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: 5 in the control group, 15 in the simply transected optic nerve g roup and 15 in the optic nerve-sciatic nerve anastomosis group. The simply tran sected and optic nerve-sciatic nerve anastomosed models were set up, and the re tinal tissues of all of the rats were taken out after 3, 7 and 14 days, respecti vely; and the mRNA expression of CNTF in the 3 groups were observed by semi-qua ntitative reversal transcription-polymerase chain reaction method. Res ults A minimum expression of CNTF mRNA was found in the reti nae of the control group, and the increased rates of expression were found in th e retinae of the simple transection of optic nerve group with the increase rate of 100%, 594%, and 485% on the 3rd, 7th, and 14th day respectively after the ope ration, while in optic nerve-sciatic nerve anastomosis group, the increase rate s were found to be 258%, 752% and 515% on the 3rd, 7th, and 14th day respectivel y after the operation. Conclusion Retinal neurons can respond to axonal reaction of retinal ganglion cells by up-regulate endogenous CNTF aft er the injury of the optic nerves, which may provide a theoretic base for the application of the exogenous CNTF.