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Kunimi H, Lee D, Ibuki M, Katada Y, Negishi K, Tsubota K, Kurihara T. Inhibition of the HIF-1α/BNIP3 pathway has a retinal neuroprotective effect. FASEB J 2021; 35:e21829. [PMID: 34314069 DOI: 10.1096/fj.202100572r] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Revised: 07/01/2021] [Accepted: 07/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Retinal ischemia is a leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Inner retinal dysfunction including loss of retinal ganglion cells is encountered in a number of retinal ischemic disorders. We previously reported administration of two different hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) inhibitors exerted neuroprotective effects in a murine model of retinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) which mimics these disorders, as inner retinal degeneration could be involved in pathological HIF induction. However, this notion needs further investigation. Therefore, in this study, we attempted to use retina-specific Hif-1α conditional knockout (cKO) mice to uncover this notion more clearly under the same condition. Hif-1α cKO mice showed inner retinal neurodegeneration to a lesser extent than control mice. Hif-1α depletion in a murine 661W retinal cell line reduced cell death under pseudohypoxic and hypoxic conditions. Among hypoxia-related genes, the expression of BCL2 19 kDa protein-interacting protein 3 (Bnip3) was substantially upregulated in the inner retinal layer after retinal I/R. In this regard, we further examined Bnip3 depletion in retinal neurons in vitro and in vivo and found the similar neuroprotective effects. Our results support the notion that the HIF-1α/BNIP3 pathway may have a critical role in inner retinal neurodegeneration, which can be linked with the development of new promising therapeutics for inner retinal ischemic disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hiromitsu Kunimi
- Laboratory of Photobiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinanomachi, Japan.,Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinanomachi, Japan
| | - Deokho Lee
- Laboratory of Photobiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinanomachi, Japan.,Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinanomachi, Japan
| | - Mari Ibuki
- Laboratory of Photobiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinanomachi, Japan.,Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinanomachi, Japan
| | - Yusaku Katada
- Laboratory of Photobiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinanomachi, Japan.,Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinanomachi, Japan
| | - Kazuno Negishi
- Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinanomachi, Japan
| | - Kazuo Tsubota
- Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinanomachi, Japan.,Tsubota Laboratory, Inc., Tokyo, Japan
| | - Toshihide Kurihara
- Laboratory of Photobiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinanomachi, Japan.,Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinanomachi, Japan
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