Eye Clinic, ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo Hospital, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
Exp Eye Res. 2021 Jun;207:108601. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2021.108601. Epub 2021 Apr 25.
Electrical stimulation (ES) of the eye represents a therapeutic approach in various clinical applications ranging from retinal dystrophies, age-related macular degeneration, retinal artery occlusion and nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy. In clinical practice, ES of the eye is mainly performed with a transcorneal or transpalpebral approach. These procedures are non-invasive and well-tolerated by the patients, reporting only minimal and transient adverse events, while serious adverse effects were not observed. Despite the growing literature on animal models, only clinical parameters have been investigated in humans and few data are available about biochemical changes induced by ES of the eye. The purpose of this study is to investigate the possible mechanism that regulates the beneficial effects of ES on retinal cells function and survival in humans. 28 patients undergoing pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) for idiopathic epiretinal membrane (iERM) were randomly divided in two groups: 13 patients were treated with transpalpebral ES before surgery and 15 underwent surgery with no prior treatment. Vitreous samples were collected for biochemical analysis during PPV. ES treatment leads to a reduction in the vitreous expression of both proinflammatory cytokines, namely IL-6 and IL-8, and proinflammatory lipid mediators, such as lysophosphatidylcholine. Indeed, we observed a 70% decrease of lysophosphatidylcholine 18:0, which has been proven to exert the greatest proinflammatory activities among the lysophosphatidylcholine class. The content of triglycerides is also affected and significantly decreased following ES application. The vitreous composition of patients undergoing PPV for iERM displays significant changes following ES treatment. Proinflammatory cytokines and bioactive lipid mediators expression decreases, suggesting an overall anti-inflammatory potential of ES. The investigation of the mechanism by which this treatment alters the retinal neurons leading to good outcomes is essential for supporting ES therapeutic application in various types of retinal diseases.
眼部电刺激 (ES) 在各种临床应用中代表一种治疗方法，范围从视网膜营养不良、年龄相关性黄斑变性、视网膜动脉阻塞和非动脉炎性缺血性视神经病变。在临床实践中，眼部 ES 主要通过经角膜或经眼睑途径进行。这些程序是非侵入性的，患者耐受性良好，仅报告最小和短暂的不良事件，而未观察到严重的不良影响。尽管关于动物模型的文献不断增加，但仅在人类中研究了临床参数，并且关于眼部 ES 诱导的生化变化的数据很少。本研究旨在探讨调节 ES 对视网膜细胞功能和存活的有益作用的可能机制。28 名因特发性视网膜内膜（iERM）接受玻璃体切除术（PPV）的患者被随机分为两组：13 名患者在手术前接受经眼睑 ES 治疗，15 名患者接受无预先治疗的手术。在 PPV 期间收集玻璃体样本进行生化分析。ES 治疗导致玻璃体中促炎细胞因子（即 IL-6 和 IL-8）和促炎脂质介质（如溶血磷脂酰胆碱）的表达减少。实际上，我们观察到溶血磷脂酰胆碱 18:0 的含量减少了 70%，溶血磷脂酰胆碱 18:0 已被证明在溶血磷脂酰胆碱类中具有最大的促炎活性。ES 应用后，甘油三酯的含量也受到影响并显著降低。接受 iERM 行 PPV 的患者的玻璃体成分在 ES 治疗后显示出显著变化。促炎细胞因子和生物活性脂质介质的表达减少，表明 ES 具有整体抗炎潜力。研究这种治疗改变视网膜神经元的机制对于支持 ES 在各种类型的视网膜疾病中的治疗应用至关重要。
