Effects of TGFbeta on RPE-mediated Vitreous Gel Contraction.

Lee, Sung Chul; Kim, Kwang Won

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society 1998;39(8):1808-1815.
Published online August 1, 1998.

Effects of TGFbeta on RPE-mediated Vitreous Gel Contraction.

¹Institute of Vision Research, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
²Department of Ophthalmology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

TGF β가 망막색소상피세포의 초자체젤 수축에 미치는 영향

이성철(Sung Chul Lee),김광원(Guang One Kim)

Abstract

Proliferative vitreoretinal disorders are characterized by an intravitreal and periretinal migration of RPE(retinal pigment epithelial) cells that form a scar-like contractile connective tissue. It has been reported that TGF(transforming growth factor)beta is a key cytokine that initiates and terminates tissue repair and whose sustained production underlies the development of tissue fibrosis.In the current study, we investigated the effects of TGFbeta on RPE-mediated vitreous gel contraction. TGFbetaeffecs on DNA synthesis in RPE cells were assessed by 3H-thymidine incorporation. The contraction of vitreous gel by TGFbeta treated RPE cells were evaluated by the decrease of gel weight. TGFbeta inhibited the proliferation of RPE cells. Once RPE cells were placed onto vitreous, they changed their morphology and became fibroblast-like cells. When RPE cells were incubated with TGFbeta1 and TGFbeta2, the vitreous contractin effect of RPE cells was enhanced significantly. This study suggests that TGFbeta1 and TGFbeta2 enhance the scar contraction. But TGFbeta3 may have the anti-scar contraction effect.

Key Words: Gel contraction;Retinal pigment epithelium;TGFbeta