Lycium barbarum glycopeptide(wolfberry extract)slows N-methyl-N-nitrosourea-induced degradation of photoreceptors

Photoreceptor cell degeneration leads to blindness, for which there is currently no effective treatment. Our previous studies have shown that Lycium barbarum(L. barbarum) polysaccharide(LBP) protects degenerated photoreceptors in rd1, a transgenic mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa. L. barbarum glycopeptide(Lb GP) is an immunoreactive glycoprotein extracted from LBP. In this study, we investigated the potential protective effect of Lb GP on a chemically induced photoreceptor-degenerative mouse model. Wild-type mice received the following: oral administration of Lb GP as a protective pre-treatment on days 1–7;intraperitoneal administration of 40 mg/kg N-methylN-nitrosourea to induce photoreceptor injury on day 7;and continuation of orally administered Lb GP on days 8–14. Treatment with Lb GP increased photoreceptor survival and improved the structure of photoreceptors, retinal photoresponse, and visual behaviors of mice with photoreceptor degeneration. Lb GP was also found to partially inhibit the activation of microglia in N-methyl-N-nitrosourea-injured retinas and significantly decreased the expression of two pro-inflammatory cytokines. In conclusion, Lb GP effectively slowed the rate of photoreceptor degeneration in N-methyl-N-nitrosourea-injured mice, possibly through an anti-inflammatory mechanism, and has potential as a candidate drug for the clinical treatment of photoreceptor degeneration.

Global trends in diabetic eye disease research from 2012 to 2021

Diabetic eye disease refers to a group of eye complications that occur in diabetic patients and include diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema, diabetic cataracts, and diabetic glaucoma. However, the global epidemiology of these conditions has not been well characterized. In this study, we collected information on diabetic eye disease-related research grants from seven representative countries––the United States, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, and France––by searching for all global diabetic eye disease journal articles in the Web of Science and Pub Med databases, all global registered clinical trials in the Clinical Trials database, and new drugs approved by the United States, China, Japan, and EU agencies from 2012 to 2021. During this time period, diabetic retinopathy accounted for the vast majority(89.53%) of the 2288 government research grants that were funded to investigate diabetic eye disease, followed by diabetic macular edema(9.27%). The United States granted the most research funding for diabetic eye disease out of the seven countries assessed. The research objectives of grants focusing on diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema differed by country. Additionally, the United States was dominant in terms of research output, publishing 17.53% of global papers about diabetic eye disease and receiving 22.58% of total citations. The United States and the United Kingdom led international collaborations in research into diabetic eye disease. Of the 415 clinical trials that we identified, diabetic macular edema was the major disease that was targeted for drug development(58.19%). Approximately half of the trials(49.13%) pertained to angiogenesis. However, few drugs were approved for ophthalmic(40 out of 1830;2.19%) and diabetic eye disease(3 out of 1830;0.02%) applications. Our findings show that basic and translational research related to diabetic eye disease in the past decade has not been highly active, and has yielded few new treatment methods and newly approved drugs.

Increased Expression of Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1,Vascular Cellular Adhesion Molecule-1 and Leukocyte Common Antigen in Diabetic Rat Retina

Purpose: To understand the expression and distribution of intercellular adhesion molecule- 1(ICAM- 1),vascular cellular adhesion molecule- 1 (VCAM- 1)and CD45 (Leukocyte Common Antigen) in the control nondiabetic and various courses of diabetic rats retina. To explore the role of adhesion molecules (Ams) and the adhesion of leukocytes to vascular endothelial cells via Ams in diabetic retinopathy(DR).Methods: Sixty healthy adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into diabetic groups(induced by Streptozotocin, STZ) and normal control groups. Rats in these two groups were further randomly divided into 3, 7, 14, 30, 90 and 180 days-group,including 5 rats respectively. The immunohistochemical studies of ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and CD45 were carried out in the retinal digest preparations or retinal paraffin sections, and the results were analyzed qualitatively, semi-quantitatively.Results: No positive reaction of VCAM-1 was found, and weak reactions of ICAM-1,CD45 were found in nondiabetic rats retina. The difference of 6 control groups had no statistical significance(P > 0.05). The increased ICAM-1 and CD45 staining pattern were detectable 3 days after diabetes induction, and a few VCAM-1 positive cells were observed in the retinal blood capillaries. The difference of diabetes and control is significant( P < 0.05).Following the course, the expressions of ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and CD45 were increasingly enhanced, reaching a peak at the 14th day.Conclusion: Increased expression of ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and leukocytes adhering and stacking in retinal capillaries are the very early events in DR. Coherence of expression and distribution of the three further accounts for it is the key point for the onset of DR that Ams mediates leukocytes adhesion and endothelial cell injury.

AB001. Vision impairment & repairment in diabetes

With the development of global industrialization,urbanization and changes of people’s lifestyle,Diabetes Mellitus,DM has become a serious worldwide health issue.The prevalence of diabetes in China is more than 10%.Due to the huge population base,China has surpassed the U.S.and India,becoming the country with the largest diabetic population in the world.Diabetic retinopathy(DR)is one of the most common complications of DM.The latest epidemiological survey shows that 17.8-29.2%of China’s diabetes patients developed DR,and it has become the leading cause of blindness in adults over the age of 40.Despite the continued emergence of new medicine and treatment in the past ten years,and a large number of global clinical trials have been carried out,we still couldn’t prevent the occurrence and development of DR.Microvascular damage caused by DM has been a top priority in the prevention and treatment of diabetic complications.Chinese government attaches great importance to the prevention and treatment of DR and has included it into China’s plan of the prevention and treatment of blindness.In this presentation,I’m going to focus on the pathogenesis of DR,especially the relationship between immune inflammatory response and DR.Major challenges and solutions in clinical treatment were discussed as well.

Identifying spatiotemporal information of the point pollutant source indoors based on the adjoint-regularization method

Fast and accurate identification of the pollutant source location and release rate is important for improving indoor air quality.From the perspective of public health,identification of the airborne pathogen source in public buildings is particularly important for ensuring people’s safety and health.The existing adjoint probability method has difficulty in distinguishing the temporal source,and the optimization algorithm can only analyze a few potential sources in space.This study proposed an algorithm combining the adjoint-pulse and regularization methods to identify the spatiotemporal information of the point pollutant source in an entire room space.We first obtained a series of source-receptor response matrices using the adjoint-pulse method in the room based on the validated CFD model,and then used the regularization method and composite Bayesian inference to identify the release rate and location of the dynamic pollutant source.The results showed that the MAPEs(mean absolute percentage errors)of estimated source intensities were almost less than 15%,and the source localization success rates were above 25/30 in this study.This method has the potential to be used to identify the airborne pathogen source in public buildings combined with sensors for disease-specific biomarkers.