Visually induced changes in cytokine production in the chick choroid
Abstract
Postnatal ocular growth is regulated by a vision-dependent mechanism which acts to minimize refractive error through coordinated growth of the ocular tissues. Of great interest is the identification of the chemical signals that control visually-guided ocular growth. Here we provide evidence that the pro-inflammatory cytokine, Interleukin-6 (IL-6), may play a pivotal role in the control of ocular growth using a chicken model of myopia. Microarray, real time RT-qPCR, and ELISA analyses identified IL-6 upregulation in the choroids of chick eyes under two visual conditions that introduce myopic defocus and slow the rate of ocular elongation (recovery from induced myopia and compensation for positive lenses). Intraocular administration of atropine, an agent known to slow ocular elongation, also resulted in an increase in choroidal IL-6 gene expression. Nitric oxide appears to directly or indirectly upregulate choroidal IL-6 gene expression, as administration of the non-specific nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, L-NAME, inhibited choroidal IL-6 gene expression, and application of a nitric oxide donor stimulated IL-6 gene and protein expression in isolated chick choroids. Considering the pleiotropic nature of IL-6 and involvement in many biological processes, these results suggest that IL-6 may mediate many aspects of the choroidal response in the control of ocular growth.
Data availability
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Eye Institute (EY09391)
- Jody Ann Summers
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (P30GM122744)
- Jody Ann Summers
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: Animals were managed in accordance with the ARVO Statement for the Use of Animals in Ophthalmic and Vision Research, with the Animal Welfare Act, and with the National Institutes of Health Guidelines. All procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. (protocol # 20-092-H).
Copyright
© 2021, Summers & Martinez
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Further reading
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