Title
Molecular Assessment of Epiretinal Membrane: Activated Microglia, Oxidative Stress and Inflammation
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Radiology; Department of Microbiology and Physiological Systems; Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Publication Date
2020-07-23
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Cellular and Molecular Physiology | Eye Diseases | Ophthalmology
Abstract
Fibrocellular membrane or epiretinal membrane (ERM) forms on the surface of the inner limiting membrane (ILM) in the inner retina and alters the structure and function of the retina. ERM formation is frequently observed in ocular inflammatory conditions, such as proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and retinal detachment (RD). Although peeling of the ERM is used as a surgical intervention, it can inadvertently distort the retina. Our goal is to design alternative strategies to tackle ERMs. As a first step, we sought to determine the composition of the ERMs by identifying the constituent cell-types and gene expression signature in patient samples. Using ultrastructural microscopy and immunofluorescence analyses, we found activated microglia, astrocytes, and Muller glia in the ERMs from PDR and RD patients. Moreover, oxidative stress and inflammation associated gene expression was significantly higher in the RD and PDR membranes as compared to the macular hole samples, which are not associated with inflammation. We specifically detected differential expression of hypoxia inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF1-alpha), proinflammatory cytokines, and Notch, Wnt, and ERK signaling pathway-associated genes in the RD and PDR samples. Taken together, our results provide new information to potentially develop methods to tackle ERM formation.
Keywords
epiretinal membrane, human retina, internal limiting membrane, macular hole, proliferative diabetic retinopathy, vitreoretinal surgery
Rights and Permissions
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
DOI of Published Version
10.3390/antiox9080654
Source
Vishwakarma S, Gupta RK, Jakati S, Tyagi M, Pappuru RR, Reddig K, Hendricks G, Volkert MR, Khanna H, Chhablani J, Kaur I. Molecular Assessment of Epiretinal Membrane: Activated Microglia, Oxidative Stress and Inflammation. Antioxidants (Basel). 2020 Jul 23;9(8):E654. doi: 10.3390/antiox9080654. PMID: 32717933. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland)
Related Resources
PubMed ID
32717933
Repository Citation
Vishwakarma S, Gupta RK, Jakati S, Tyagi M, Pappuru RR, Reddig K, Hendricks GM, Volkert MR, Khanna H, Chhablani J, Kaur I. (2020). Molecular Assessment of Epiretinal Membrane: Activated Microglia, Oxidative Stress and Inflammation. Radiology Publications. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox9080654. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/radiology_pubs/550
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.