[Frontiers in Bioscience 14, 3974-3987, January 1, 2009]

Role of nitric oxide, superoxide, peroxynitrite and PARP in diabetic retinopathy

Ling Zheng1,2, Timothy S. Kern2,3,4

1 College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, 2Department of Medicine, 3 Department of Ophthalmology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, 4Cleveland VAMC Research Service 151, Cleveland, OH

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Abstract
2. Diabetic retinopathy
3. NO, NOS and diabetic retinopathy
3.1. NO and NOS in retina
3.2. NO and NOS in diabetic patients with retinopathy
3.3. NO and NOS studies in experimentally diabetic animals and retinal cells incubated in diabetic-like concentrations of glucose
3.3.1. NO in retinas or retinal cells incubated in diabetic-like conditions
3.3.2. NOSs in retinas or retinal cells incubated in diabetic-like conditions
3.3.3. Interaction between NO and COX-2
4. Oxidative stress, superoxide and diabetic retinopathy
4.1. Oxidative stress
4.2. Oxidative stress markers in diabetic patients with retinopathy
4.3. Oxidative stress in retinas of experimentally diabetic animals and retinal cells incubated in diabetic-like concentrations of glucose
5. Peroxynitrite and diabetic retinopathy
6. PARP and diabetic retinopathy
7. Perspectives
8. Acknowledgements
9. References

1. ABSTRACT >

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness and visual sability in the industrialized world. The mechanisms of how diabetic retinopathy develops are still an open question. Alterations contributing to oxidative and nitrosative stress, including elevated nitric oxide (NO) and superoxide production, overexpression of different isoforms of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), nitrated and poly(ADP-ribosy)lated proteins, downregulation of antioxidative enzymes, have been implicated in the pathogenesis of this ocular disease. The possible roles of these components in the development of diabetic retinopathy are reviewed here, and their values as therapeutic targets for inhibiting or delaying the development of diabetic retinopathy are highlighted.