Studies on the mechanism of early onset macular degeneration in cynomolgus monkeys. II. Suppression of metallothionein synthesis in the retina in oxidative stress.

Initial investigations done in this laboratory detected increased albumin and decreased glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase concentrations in the retina of an animal model manifesting early onset macular degeneration. Both glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase and albumin are markers of oxidative stress in cells. In this study, we used the same animal model to study further biochemical and physiological processes which may be involved in the pathogenesis of early onset macular degeneration in monkeys. We detected 60% lower catalase and glutathione peroxidase activities in the affected retinas suggesting lower antioxidant activities and oxidative stress. One of the consequences of oxidative stress is the production of metallothionein, a low molecular weight protein also induced by high concentrations of heavy metals such as zinc. Metallothionein was detected by RT-PCR in these monkey retinas. However initial quantitative PCR studies on this protein showed that the synthesis of metallothionein in affected retinas appears to be less than in normal controls. The affected retinas also showed a fourfold lower zinc concentration compared with the normal controls. No significant difference, however, could be detected in the zinc concentrations in plasma samples. Since induction of metallothionein synthesis is mediated by transcription factors which require heavy metals such as zinc for binding to specific sites in the DNA, the lowered zinc concentration may, thus, correlate with the lowered metallothionein expression. And since metallothionein is suggested to function as a free radical scavenger, the lowered metallothionein synthesis may consequently contribute to increased peroxidation reactions in the affected retinas. It appears therefore, that oxidative stress and the decreased metallothionein synthesis may be involved in the pathogenesis of early onset macular degeneration in this animal model.