Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2019, Vol. 14 ›› Issue (4): 728-734.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.247481

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Voluntary running delays primary degeneration in rat retinas after partial optic nerve transection

Hong-Ying Li 1, 2 , Xi Hong 1 , Mi Huang 2, 3 , Kwok-Fai So 2, 3, 4   

  1. 1 Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
    2 Guangdong-Hongkong-Macau Institute of CNS Regeneration, Ministry of Education CNS Regeneration Collaborative Joint Laboratory, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
    3 Guangdong Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Diseases, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
    4 Department of Ophthalmology and State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
  • Online:2019-04-15 Published:2019-04-15
  • Contact: Hong-Ying Li, PhD, thongying@jnu.edu.cn; Kwok-Fai So, PhD, hrmaskf@hku.hk.
  • Supported by:

    The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81501091 (to HYL), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province of China, No. 2015A030310201 (to HYL); Medical Scientific Research Foundation of Guangdong Province of China, No. A2015393 (to HYL); the funds of Leading Talents of Guangdong Province of China, No. 2013 (to KFS); Programme of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities, No. B14036 (to KFS); the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program), No. 2015CB351800 (to KFS); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, No. 21609101 (to KFS)

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Abstract:

Running is believed to be beneficial for human health. Many studies have focused on the neuroprotective effects of voluntary running on animal models. There were both primary and secondary degeneration in neurodegenerative diseases, including glaucoma. However, whether running can delay primary or secondary degeneration or both of them was not clear. Partial optic nerve transection model is a valuable glaucoma model for studying both primary and secondary degeneration because it can separate primary (mainly in the superior retina) from secondary (mainly in the inferior retina) degeneration. Therefore, we compared the survival of retinal ganglion cells between Sprague-Dawley rat runners and non-runners both in the superior and inferior retinas. Excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, and apoptosis are involved in the degeneration of retinal ganglion cells in glaucoma. So we also used western immunoblotting to compare the expression of some proteins involved in apoptosis (phospho-c-Jun N-terminal kinases, p-JNKs), oxidative stress (manganese superoxide dismutase, MnSOD) and excitotoxicity (glutamine synthetase) between runners and non-runners after partial optic nerve transection. Results showed that voluntary running delayed the death of retinal ganglion cells vulnerable to primary degeneration but not those to secondary degeneration. In addition, voluntary running decreased the expression of glutamine synthetase, but not the expression of p-JNKs and MnSOD in the superior retina after partial optic nerve transection. These results illustrated that primary degeneration of retinal ganglion cells might be mainly related with excitotoxicity rather than oxidative stress; and the voluntary running could down-regulate excitotoxicity to delay the primary degeneration of retinal ganglion cells after partial optic nerve transection.

Key words: voluntary running, optic nerve injury, oxidative stress, excitotoxicity, JNKs,  , primary degeneration, secondary degeneration