Enriched environment and visual stimuli protect the retinal pigment epithelium and photoreceptors in a mouse model of non-exudative age-related macular degeneration.

ABSTRACT: Non-exudative age-related macular degeneration (NE-AMD), the main cause of blindness in people above 50 years old, lacks effective treatments at the moment. We have developed a new NE-AMD model through unilateral superior cervical ganglionectomy (SCGx), which elicits the disease main features in C57Bl/6J mice. The involvement of oxidative stress in the damage induced by NE-AMD to the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and outer retina has been strongly supported by evidence. We analysed the effect of enriched environment (EE) and visual stimulation (VS) in the RPE/outer retina damage within experimental NE-AMD. Exposure to EE starting 48 h post-SCGx, which had no effect on the choriocapillaris ubiquitous thickness increase, protected visual functions, prevented the thickness increase of the

SUBMITTER: Dieguez HH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9632251 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature