Interleukin-33 Prevents Retinal Ischemia Reperfusion Injury in Rats by Preventing Apoptosis

Retinal ischemia reperfusion (RIR) injury is a common pathological process that can result in visual impairment in many ophthalmic diseases. Inflammation and apoptosis play an important role in RIR injury.
This experimental study was designed to explore the ability of a new cytokine, IL-33, to attenuate RIR injury via an apoptosis-inhibitory mechanism.
From June, 2015 to October, 2015, 40 Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats from Wuhan university in China were divided into the following four groups: normal control group (NCG), RIR injury model group (MG), IL-33 pretreatment group (IL-33), and PBS group (PBS) according to random number tables. Rats in the IL-33 and PBS groups received an intravitreous injection of 2 μg of recombinant IL-33 (rIL-33) or PBS one hour before the induction of ischemia. Histological evaluation, inflammatory cell infiltration, and apoptosis of retinal cells were examined. The expressions of apoptotic-related proteins (Bcl-2 and Bax) were quantified by immunohistochemistry and western blotting. The presence of NF-κB p65 in the retina was assessed by western blotting.
Our data revealed that IL-33 pretreatment maintained a better retinal structure, inhibited leukocyte infiltration (IL-33 vs. MG with P IL-33 may be a potential new agent to attenuate RIR injury by reducing inflammatory cell infiltration and preventing apoptosis.