Postnatal Nutrient Effects on Retinopathy of Prematurity Rat Model

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25870737
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Ophthalmology; Embryonic/Neonatal medicine
• Research Institution: Showa University
• Principal Investigator: SAITO YUTA 昭和大学, 医学部, 講師 (70407477)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 未熟児網膜症 / 栄養 / 血管内皮増殖因子 / インスリン様成長因子 / 網膜血管新生

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In preterm human infants, risk of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) has been linked to low birth weight and slow postnatal weight gain. To prevent severe ROP, it is considered that postnatal nutrition in preterm infants are very important, and early aggressive nutrition may reduce the risk of ROP. The aim of this study is to investigate prenatal and postnatal nutrient effects on body weight gain, retinal vascularization in oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) rat model.
As the results, we had shown that postnatal body weight gain had no correlation to the retinal avascular area or retinal neovascularization in this model. Instead, pups with low birth weight and slow body weight gain had milder retinopathy in this study, which was a different phenomenon from clinical ROP.

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