Warburg effect of retinal energetic metabolism and its regulatory mechanism / 中华实验眼科杂志

ABSTRACT

Retinal metabolism includes material metabolism and energetic metabolism.Retina is one of the most energy-consuming nerve tissue in human body and mainly relies on glycolysis for energy production, which is similar to very fast-growing tumor tissue.This process is known as Warburg effect.Warburg effect is of great significance, which is demonstrated that glucose is metabolized via glycolysis in a more rapid approach in comparison with oxidative phosphorylation pathway.In addition, glucose also supplies neoplastic tissue with carbon source or metabolic intermediates due to biosynthesis.The produced energy of retina is a summation of different retinal cells and tissue, such as photoreceptors, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), Müller cells and retinal capillary endothelial cells etc.To understand the underlying mechanism contributing to Warburg effect and provide insight into metabolic coupling between neuron and glia is of important significance.Since key glycolysis enzymes (HK2, PFKFB3 and PKM2) take a pivotal role in controlling retinal cell proliferation and neovascularization, bioenergetic strategy targeting these enzymes suggests new idea in the treatment of retinal diseases where energy failure is part of the pathogenesis.Investigating underlying mechanism of retinal energy metabolism can provide new ideas for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and other diseases related to disordered retinal energy metabolism.The Warburg effect of retinal energetic metabolism and its regulatory mechanism were reviewed in this article.