[Inflammatory metabolites of arahidonic acid in tear fluid in UV-induced corneal damage]

The ultraviolet (UV) B-induced damage of the eye surface of experimental animals (rabbits) includes loss of corneal epithelium, apoptosis of keratocytes and stromal edema. These changes are accompanied by clinically and histologically manifested corneal inflammation, neutrophil infiltration, and exudation of the anterior chamber of the eye. According to mass spectrometric analysis, UV-induced corneal damage is associated with pronounced changes in the lipid composition of tears, including a decrease in the amount of arachidonic acid and prostaglandin E2 and an increase in the concentrations of prostaglandin D2 and its derivative 15d-PGJ2. In addition, it is accompanied by an alteration in the levels of hydroxyeicosate tetraenic acid derivatives, namely upregulation of 12-HETE and downregulation of 5-HETE. The revealed changes indicate the activation of metabolic pathways involving 5-lipoxygenase, 12-lipoxygenase, cyclooxygenase 1 and 2, and prostaglandin-D-synthase. These findings contribute to understanding mechanisms of UV-induced keratitis and point on feasibility of selective anti-inflammatory therapy for improving corneal regeneration after iatrogenic UV damage.

Iatrogenic Damage of Eye Tissues: Current Problems and Possible Solutions

Visual system is at high risk of iatrogenic damage. Laser ocular surgery, the use of powerful illumination devices in diagnostics and surgical treatment of eye diseases, as well as long surgeries under general anesthesia provoke the development of chronic degenerative changes in eye tissues, primarily in the cornea and the retina. Despite the existence of approaches for prevention and treatment of these complications, the efficacy of these approaches is often limited. Here, we review the mechanisms of iatrogenic damage to eye tissues at the cellular and biochemical levels. It is well recognized that oxidative stress is one of the main factors hindering regeneration of eye tissues after injuries and, thereby, aggravating iatrogenic eye disorders. It is accompanied by the downregulation of low-molecular-weight antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes, as well as changes in the expression and redox status of proteins in the damaged tissue. In this regard, antioxidant therapy, in particular, the use of highly effective mitochondria-targeted antioxidants such as SkQ1, is considered as a promising approach to the prevention of iatrogenesis. Recent findings indicate that the most efficient protection of eye tissues from the iatrogenic injury is achieved by preventive use of these antioxidants. In addition to preventing corneal and retinal cell death induced by oxidative stress, SkQ1 contributes to the restoration of innate antioxidant defense of these tissues and suppresses local inflammatory response. Since the timing of routine medical manipulations is usually known in advance, iatrogenic damage to the ocular tissues can be successfully prevented using mitochondria-targeted therapy.

[Mechanisms of perioperative corneal abrasions: alterations in tear film proteome]

Perioperative corneal abrasion is an ophthalmic complication commonly found in patients underwent general anesthesia. In this study, correlations between development of corneal injury and proteomic changes in tear film during general anesthesia were examined using an animal (rabbit) model. Being started after 1-h anesthesia, the process of accumulation of pathological changes in the cornea unequivocally led clinically significant abrasions following 3-6 h of the narcosis. The corneal damage was associated with alterations in profiles of major proteins of the tear film. Analysis of the tear proteome pointed to depression of lachrymal glands function, and suggested serotransferrin, serum albumin and annexin A1 as potential tear markers of the complication. The tear film alterations included fast drop of total antioxidant activity and activity of superoxide dismutase, and decrease in interleukin-4 and increase in interleukin-6 content indicating development of oxidative and pro-inflammatory responses. These findings suggest antioxidant and anti-inflammatory therapy as prospective approach for prevention/treatment of perioperative corneal abrasions. The observed anesthesia-induced effects should be considered in any study of ocular surface diseases employing anesthetized animals.

Alterations in Tear Biochemistry Associated with Postanesthetic Chronic Dry Eye Syndrome

Perioperative dry eye syndrome (DES) is a common ocular complication of long-term general anesthesia. Chronic DES can lead to permanent damage to the cornea and disturbance of visual function, up to total loss of vision. Here, a relationship between the duration of general anesthesia and the risk of chronic DES in patients was demonstrated. Using an experimental model of perioperative corneal abrasions in rabbits, it was found that introduction of animals to 3-h general anesthesia resulted in clinically significant chronic damage to the cornea in 50% of cases. The development of the complication was not associated with irreversible or long-term impairment of tear secretion, but it was accompanied by a decrease in tear film stability and growth of the total protein content as well as decrease in total antioxidant activity of the tear induced by low molecular weight antioxidants. In addition, anesthesia-induced changes in activity of tear antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase and enzymes providing homeostasis of reduced glutathione (glutathione peroxidase, glutathione-S-transferase, glutathione reductase) were observed. All these alterations were protracted (up to 1-2 weeks) and therefore might account for transition of the perioperative DES into the chronic form. These findings can be useful in the development of novel approaches for the prevention and treatment of chronic forms of DES in the postanesthetic period.

Preventive and therapeutic effects of SkQ1-containing Visomitin eye drops against light-induced retinal degeneration

The human retina is constantly affected by light of varying intensity, this being especially true for photoreceptor cells and retinal pigment epithelium. Traditionally, photoinduced damages of the retina are induced by visible light of high intensity in albino rats using the LIRD (light-induced retinal degeneration) model. This model allows study of pathological processes in the retina and the search for retinoprotectors preventing retinal photodamage. In addition, the etiology and mechanisms of retina damage in the LIRD model have much in common with the mechanisms of the development of age-related retinal disorders, in particular, with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). We have studied preventive and therapeutic effects of Visomitin eye drops (based on the mitochondria-targeted antioxidant SkQ1) on albino rat retinas damaged by bright light. In the first series of experiments, rats receiving Visomitin for two weeks prior to illumination demonstrated significantly less expressed atrophic and degenerative changes in the retina compared to animals receiving similar drops with no SkQ1. In the second series, the illuminated rats were treated for two weeks with Visomitin or similar drops without SkQ1. The damaged retinas of the experimental animals were repaired much more effectively than those of the control animals. Therefore, we conclude that Visomitin SkQ1-containing eye drops have pronounced preventive and therapeutic effects on the photodamaged retina and might be recommended as a photoprotector and a pharmaceutical preparation for the treatment of AMD in combination with conventional medicines.

[SPECTRUM OF SPONTANEOUS PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN MOLE-VOLES AND THE EFFECT OF MITOCHONDRIA-TARGETED ANTIOXIDANT SkQ1 ON IT]

The mole vole (Ellobius talpinus (Pallas), Rodentia) is the object of interest for cytogenetics, ecology and gerontology research, peculiarly because of partial similarity of this animal to the unique long-living rodent, mole rat. In this work, the mole vole has been found to have very specific spectrum of tumors and non-tumor pathologies which vastly differs from pathological lesions spectrum in mole rat, laboratory mouse, rat and hamster. Mole voles had relatively small tumor incidence (9% totally in the observed population and 16% in animals dead after the achievement of the first tumor development age) and long minimal span of tumor latency (549 days) that is why this species could be categorized as cancer-resistant in compare to laboratory rodents (mice, rats, hamsters). The most common tumors in mole voles were hepatocellular neoplasms. Main non-tumor lesions were pneumonias and other septic and purulent diseases. Non-incapsulated, Gram-positive streptococci have been elucidated to be sole etiological agents in lesioned tissues. It is very important that septic and purulent diseases in mole voles commonly induced the neoplasia-like lesions (leukemoid reaction and "inflammatory pseudotumors"). Sex differences in pathological spectrum and incidences were not found. At last, it has been established that mitochondria-targeted antioxidant SkQ1 (which prolonged mole vole life span) did not significantly influence on spectrum and incidences of pathologies in mole voles.

Age-associated murine cardiac lesions are attenuated by the mitochondria-targeted antioxidant SkQ1

Age-related changes in mammalian hearts often result in cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis that are preceded by inflammatory infiltration. In this paper, we show that lifelong treatment of BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice with the mitochondria-targeted antioxidant SkQ1 retards senescence-associated myocardial disease (cardiomyopathy), cardiac hypertrophy, and diffuse myocardial fibrosis. To investigate the molecular basis of the action of SkQ1, we have applied DNA microarray analysis. The global gene expression profile in heart tissues was not significantly affected by administration of SkQ1. However, we found some small but statistically significant modifications of the pathways related to cell-to-cell contact, adhesion, and leukocyte infiltration. Probably, SkQ1-induced decrease in leukocyte and mesenchymal cell adhesion and/or infiltration lead to a reduction in age-related inflammation and subsequent fibrosis. The data indicate a causative role of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species in cardiovascular aging and imply that SkQ1 has potential as a drug against age-related cardiac dysfunction.

[Age-related changes in the rat lacrimal gland: specific morphology and unknown nature]

The rat lacrimal apparatus includes several glands; among them, the exorbital gland plays the central role. Its parenchyma and stroma undergo prominent morphologic changes with age. The parenchymal transformation includes metaplasia of some of its acini and their turning into Harderian gland-like structures (harderization), accumulation of gland ducts ("ductularization"), and morphologic dysplasia-cytomegaly, karyomegaly, and'cell and nuclearpolymorphism in the other part of acini. All these transformations are hormone-dependent andsex-specific: theyoften appear in males. On the final stages of age-related transformations, the lacrimal gland tissue is morphologically similar to the neoplasm and has neoplastic morphology but no other features of a tumor. Therefore, the rat lacrimal gland is an interesting object to study tissue and cell atypia. In the rat glandular stroma, lymphocytic infiltration and fibrosis appear with age; these changes are similar to processes taking place in human lacrimal apparatus involved in the pathogenesis of senile dry eye syndrome. The spontaneous changes in the rat lacrimal gland, predominantly in male rats, can be used as a model of the human lacrimal apparatus disorders.

Organotypic culture of neural retina as a research model of neurodegeneration of ganglion cells

Organotypic models deserve special attention among the large variety of methods of vertebrate retina cultivation. The purpose of this study was to make a detailed qualitative and quantitative characterization of a model employing roller organotypic cultivation of the neural retina of rat eye posterior segment, with special attention to morphological and functional characteristics of retinal ganglion cells. The study included morphological analysis of retina histological preparations as well as estimation of RNA synthesis and evaluation of neuron survival by the Brachet and TUNEL methods, respectively. Retina has been shown to display normal morphofunctional characteristics for the first 12 h of cultivation. After 24 h, a substantial number of ganglion cells underwent pyknosis and stopped RNA synthesis. Almost all the cells of the retinal ganglion layer became apoptotic by 3-4 days in vitro. In the course of cultivation, neural retina is detached from the underlying layers of the posterior eye segment and undergoes significant cytoarchitectonic changes. The causes of ganglion cell death during organotypic cultivation of eye posterior segment are discussed. This method can serve as a suitable model for the screening of new retinoprotectors and for research on ganglion cell death resulting from retina degenerative diseases, e.g. glaucoma.

[Spontaneous tumors in the Campbell hamster: a possible new model of experimental oncology]

The spectrum of spontaneous tumors in the Campbell hamsters has not been described yet. 152 Campbell hamsters (110 females and 42 males), spontaneously died by ordinary death, underwent the necropsy and the histopathological examination. Tumors were found in 50% of males and in 48% of females dead after the achievement of the first tumor development age (430 and 260 days respectively). The main type of tumors in Campbell hamsters was thymoma of B1 type which is known in human, but unusual in laboratory animals. The thymomas had low grade of malignancy, did not induce the wasting syndrome and did not metastasize. It is probable that thymoma B1 kills the animals by the dislocation of mediastinal organs. Frequency of this tumor was 40% in males and 40% in females dead after the achievement of the first tumor development age. Any sex differences were not found although males dead with thymoma had significantly more evident reproductive success in comparison with animals without this tumor. Besides, thymomas, squamous carcinomas of forestomach (in males and females), skin carcinomas (in males and females), adenocarcinomas of reproductive system, kidney and lung (in females only) and small-cell lymphomas (in males only) were found. Hence, spontaneous tumors in Campbell hamsters could be useful as a model for research in the experimental oncology, especially as unique model of human thymoma of B1 type which has not been observed in laboratory mice and rats yet.