Retinoid x receptor modulation protects against ER stress response and rescues glaucoma phenotypes in adult mice

Title
Retinoid x receptor modulation protects against ER stress response and rescues glaucoma phenotypes in adult mice
Publication Date
2019-04
Author(s)
Dheer, Yogita
Chitranshi, Nitin
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6508-9865
Email: nchitran@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:nchitran
Gupta, Veer
Sharma, Samridhi
Pushpitha, Kanishka
Abbasi, Mojdeh
Mirzaei, Mehdi
You, Yuyi
Graham, Stuart L
Gupta, Vivek
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Academic Press
Place of publication
United States of America
DOI
10.1016/j.expneurol.2019.01.015
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/71685
Abstract

Retinoid X receptors (RXRs) play an important role in transcription, are involved in numerous cellular networks from cell proliferation to lipid metabolism and are essential for normal eye development. RXRs form homo or heterodimers with other nuclear receptors, bind to DNA response elements and regulate several biological processes including neurogenesis. Mounting evidence suggests that RXR activation by selective RXR modulators (sRXRms) may be neuroprotective in the central nervous system. However, their potential neuroprotective role in the retina and specifically in glaucoma remains unexplored. This study investigated changes in RXR expression in the human and mouse retina under glaucomatous stress conditions and investigated the effect of RXR modulation on the RGCs using pharmacological approaches. RXR protein levels in retina were downregulated in both human glaucoma and experimental RGC injury models while RXR agonist, bexarotene treatment resulted in upregulation of RXR expression particularly in the inner retinal layers. Retinal electrophysiological recordings and histological analysis indicated that inner retinal function and retinal laminar structure were preserved upon treatment with bexarotene. These protective effects were associated with downregulation of ER stress marker response upon bexarotene treatment under glaucoma conditions. Overall, retinal RXR modulation by bexarotene significantly protected RGCs in vivo in both acute and chronic glaucoma models.

Link
Citation
Experimental Neurology, v.314, p. 111-125
ISSN
1090-2430
0014-4886
Start page
111
End page
125

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