The Role of Catecholamines in the Development of Pathological Retina Neovascularization in an Experimental Model of Retinopathy of Prematurity in Rats

Abstract

This work is dedicated to proving our hypothesis that catecholamines and their metabolites play a crucial role in the development of retinopathy of prematurity, which leads to progressive uncontrollable vascularization in the retina, leading to blindness. The study was performed in an animal model of retinopathy of prematurity, which was achieved by hyperoxygenation in rats on postnatal days 7, 14, 21, and 30. The content of catecholamines and their metabolites in the retina of rats was determined by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. It was shown that, in the rats with retinopathy, the content of L-DOPA on days 21 and 30 was decreased as compared to the control, whereas the content of noradrenaline on day 14 life increased compared to the control. However, we did not observe changes in the content of dopamine in the experimental animals relative to the control in any period studied. Given the published data on the involvement of catecholamines in the regulation of vasculogenesis in the retina in normal state, our data on the changes in the catecholamine metabolism in the retina in the model of retinopathy of prematurity can be regarded as evidence of the important role of catecholamines in the pathogenesis of this severe disease.