Ibudilast Protects Retinal Bipolar Cells From Excitotoxic Retinal Damage and Activates the mTOR Pathway.

ABSTRACT: Ibudilast, an inhibitor of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and phosphodiesterase (PDE), has been recently shown to have neuroprotective effects in a variety of neurologic diseases. We utilize a chick excitotoxic retinal damage model to investigate ibudilast's potential to protect retinal neurons. Using single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq), we find that MIF, putative MIF receptors CD74 and CD44, and several PDEs are upregulated in different retinal cells during damage. Intravitreal ibudilast is well tolerated in the eye and causes no evidence of toxicity. Ibudilast effectively protects neurons in the inner nuclear layer from NMDA-induced cell death, restores retinal layer thickness on spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), and preserves retinal neuron function

SUBMITTER: Hamadmad S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11920683 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature