Safety assessment of semichronic suprachoroidal electrical stimulation to rabbit retina.

Confirming safety of chronic electrical stimulation is of prime importance for the practical use of visual prostheses. Here we applied electrical stimulation to eyes of freely-moving rabbits eight hour per day for one month. Examinations including fundus photo, optical coherence tomography (OCT), electrically evoked potentials (EEPs) were performed before and after one-month stimulation to detect tissue damage. No adverse effect caused by electrical stimulation was observed in electrophysiological and histological evaluation. We also found that there was no sign of morphological and electrochemical degradation of stimulating electrodes.

Relationship between Kaposi's varicelliform eruption in Japanese patients with atopic dermatitis treated with tacrolimus ointment and genetic polymorphisms in the IL-18 gene promoter region.

Kaposi's varicelliform eruption is the most important problem in treating patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) with tacrolimus ointment. It has been considered that Kaposi's varicelliform eruption occurs due to decreased levels of interleukin (IL)-18. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between Kaposi's varicelliform eruption and genetic polymorphisms in the IL-18 gene. IL-18 gene promoter polymorphisms were analyzed in 21 AD patients treated with tacrolimus ointment and in 100 healthy volunteers. Six AD patients with Kaposi's varicelliform eruption during the treatment with tacrolimus ointment showed significantly higher frequency in G-to-C mutations at the IL-18 gene promoter region -137 compared with 15 AD patients without Kaposi's varicelliform eruption. The 15 AD patients without Kaposi's varicelliform eruption as well as 100 healthy volunteers did not have mutations of G-to-C at the IL-18 gene promoter region -137. These results suggest that the onset of Kaposi's varicelliform eruption following the treatment with tacrolimus ointment is associated with the mutation of G-to-C in the IL-18 gene promoter region -137, and that caution is required when using tacrolimus ointment for treating AD patients with this mutation.