Author: Leonardo Colombo (Italy)
Co-authors: Anna Caretti, Michele Dei Cas, Dario Romano, Fabio Patelli, Luca Rossetti
Purpose
Electrical stimulation (ES) of the eye represents a therapeutic approach in various clinical applications ranging from retinal dystrophies, age-related macular degeneration, retinal artery occlusion and nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy. In clinical practice, ES of the eye is mainly performed with a transcorneal or transpalpebral approach. These procedures are non-invasive and well-tolerated by the patients, reporting only minimal and transient adverse events recorded while serious adverse effects were not observed. Despite the growing literature on animal models, only clinical parameters have been investigated in humans and few data are available about biochemical changes induced by ES of the eye. The purpose of this study is to investigate the possible mechanism that regulates the beneficial effects of ES on retinal cells function and survival in humans.
Setting/Venue
Eye Clinic of ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo Hospital, University of Milan, Italy.
Methods
28 patients undergoing pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) for idiopathic epiretinal membrane (iERM) were randomly divided in two groups: 13 patients were treated with transpalpebral ES before surgery and 15 directly underwent surgery. Vitreous samples were collected for biochemical analysis during PPV. Concentration of IL-6, IL-8, IL-10 (as the main cytokines correlated with ES treatment) and VEGF was evaluated. In addition a lipidomic analysis focusing on the amount of ceramides and lysophosphatidylcholines as the relevant (sphingo)lipid classes potentially involved in inflammation was performed.
Results
ES treatment leads to a reduction in the vitreous expression of both pro-inflammatory cytokines, namely IL-6 and IL-8, and pro-inflammatory lipid mediators, such as lysophosphatidylcholine. Indeed, we observed a 70% decrease of lysophosphatidylcholine 18:0, which has been proven to exert the greatest pro-inflammatory activities among the lysophosphatidylcholine class. The content of triglycerides is also affected and significantly decreased following ES application.
Conlusions
The vitreous composition of patients undergoing PPV for iERM changes following ES treatment. Pro-inflammatory cytokines and bioactive lipid mediators’ expression decreases, suggesting an overall anti-inflammatory potential of ES. The investigation of the mechanism by which this treatment alters the retinal neurons leading to good outcomes is essential for supporting ES therapeutic application in various types of retinal diseases.
Financial Disclosure
I do not have any financial relation with any company
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