Objective To investigate the protective effects of estrogen on rabbit retinal damages induced by chronic ocular hypertension.Methods A total of 18 white New Zealand female rabbits were randomly divided into ovariectomized (OV) group and sham OV (SOV) group. Bilateral ovaries were remove in OV group while only the adipose tissue around ovarian were remove in SOV group. Chronic ocular hypertension was induced by anterior chamber injection of carbomer. Retinal cell apoptosis was measured by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferasemediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL), the expression of bcl-2, bax were detected by immunohistochemistry. The images were captured under microscope and analyzed with computer-image-analysis system. Results Four, six and eight weeks after ocular hypertension modeling, the OV retinas have less retinal ganglion cells, thinner optic nerve fiber layer and inner nuclear layer and more TUNEL positive cells (t=3.285，4.012，3.624；P＜0.01). The OV retinas also have less bcl-2 expression (t=4.256，3.867，3.459；P＜0.01), more bax positive cells (t=3.211，3.625，3.253；P＜0.01). Bcl-2 expression was negatively correlated with TUNEL positive cells indicating bcl-2 can inhibit apoptosis. Bax expression was positively correlated with TUNEL positive cells indicating bax induce apoptosis.ConclusionEstrogen has a neuroprotection role to rabbit retina under chronic ocular hypertension by reducing apoptosis.
ObjectiveTo observe the characteristics of choroidal thickness in patients with macular edema secondary to superior temporal branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO-ME). MethodsA retrospective control study. From November 2020 to September 2021, 30 patients (30 eyes) with BRVO-ME (BRVO-ME group) were diagnosed by ophthalmology examination in Department of Ophthalmology, The Affiliated Hospital of Chengde Medical College and 14 healthy volunteers (28 eyes) were enrolled in the study. The choroidal thickness of macular area was measured by enhanced deep imaging technique of frequency domain optical coherence tomography. According to the subdivision of the diabetic retinopathy treatment group, the choroid within the 6 mm of the macular fovea was divided into three concentric circles with the macular fovea as the center, namely, the central area with the diameter of 1 mm, the inner ring of 1-3 mm and the outer ring of 3-6 mm. The inner ring area and the outer ring area are divided into upper, lower, nasal and temporal sides, respectively, which are denoted as S3, I3, N3, T3 and S6, I6, N6, T6, totaling 9 areas. To observe the distribution characteristics of choroidal thickness in different regions of two groups of eyes. The choroidal thickness of different macular regions was compared by independent sample t-test. ResultsThe choroidal thicknesses in the central area, S3, T3, I3, N3, S6, T6, I6, and N6 of the eyes in the control group and BRVO-ME group were 214.11±56.04, 207.89±57.92, 214.07±54.82, 207.14±61.54, 180.18±53.53, 204.25±59.60, 193.93±51.50, 190.54±51.21, 139.82±39.84 μm and 258.00±71.14, 256.43±68.70, 252.07±72.97, 244.37±68.49, 243.10±70.93, 247.20±68.36, 221.00±61.28, 223.77±58.64, 183.20±60.15 μm. In both groups, the choroidal thickness was the thickest in the central area, gradually thinning to the nasal side and temporal side, and the nasal choroidal thickness was thinner than other regions, and N6 area was the thinnest. Compared with the control group, the choroidal thickness of central area, S3, T3, I3, N3, S6, I6 and N6 in BRVO-ME group were significantly thicker (t=－2.899, －2.229, －2.172,－3.250, －2.543, －2.292, －3.214; P＜0.05), there was no significant difference in T6 area (t=－1.814, P=0.075). ConclusionThe choroidal thickness of macular area in patients with BRVO-ME is thicker than that in normal subjects.