Cone cell dysfunction attenuates retinal neovascularization in oxygen-induced retinopathy mouse model

Abstract

Aberrant neovascularization is the most common feature in retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), which leads to the retinal detachment and visual defects in neonates with a low gestational age eventually. Understanding the regulation of inappropriate angiogenic signaling benefits individuals at-risk. Recently, neural activity originating from the specific neural activity has been considered to contribute to retinal angiogenesis. Here, we explored the impact of cone cell dysfunction on oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR), a mouse model commonly employed to understand retinal diseases associated with abnormal blood vessel growth, using the Gnat2^cpfl3 (cone photoreceptor function loss-3) strain of mice (regardless of the sex), which is known for its inherent cone cell dysfunction. We found that the retinal avascular area, hypoxic area, and neovascular area were significantly attenuated in Gnat2^cpfl3 OIR mice compared to those in C57BL/6 OIR mice. Moreover, the HIF-1α/VEGF axis was also reduced in Gnat2^cpfl3 OIR mice. Collectively, our results indicated that cone cell dysfunction, as observed in Gnat2^cpfl3 OIR mice, leads to attenuated retinal neovascularization. This finding suggests that retinal neural activity may precede and potentially influence the onset of pathological neovascularization.