ISSN Print 2500–1094
ISSN Online 2542–1204
BIOMEDICAL JOURNAL OF PIROGOV UNIVERSITY (MOSCOW, RUSSIA)
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Retinal abnormalities in transgenic mice overexpressing aberrant human FUS[1-359] gene
About authors
1 Belgorod State National Research University, Belgorod, Russia
2 Institute of Physiologically Active Substances, Moscow, Russia
3 Kursk State Medical University, Kursk, Russia
4 Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia
Correspondence should be addressed: Vladislav O. Soldatov
Pobedy, 85, 308015, Belgorod; moc.liamg@votadlosmrahp
About paper
Funding: the study was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research within the framework of the scientific project № 19-315-90114.
Author contribution: Soldatov VO — the main idea, design of the experiment, ophthalmoscopy, writing an article, design of primers for gene expression assay; Kukharsky MS — the main idea, design of the experiment, writing an article, western blot analysis; Soldatova MO — RNA isolation, qPCR; Puchenkova OA — retina and spinal cord collection, RNA extraction, qPCR; Nikitina YuA — preparation of animal populations, genotyping, western blot analysis; Lysikova EA — preparation of animal populations, genotyping, western-blot analysis, writing an article; Kartashkina NL — interpretation and scoring of ophthalmoscopic picture; Deykin AV — consultation on the main idea and design of the study; Pokrovskiy MV — consultation on the main idea and design of the study.
Compliance with ethical standards: animal procedures were approved by the local ethics committee of the Belgorod State National Research University (protocol № 5 / 19–25 dated september 25. 2019). All manipulations were carried out in compliance with the requirements of the International Recommendations of European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes (1997).
Received: 2021-08-19
Accepted: 2021-08-28
Published online: 2021-08-31
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Retinal damage is an optional sign in a number of neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The aim of this work was to assess the structural and functional state of the retina in a murine model of ALS caused by overexpression of the aberrant FUS protein [1-359]. The retinal examination was carried out on 12 transgenic and 13 wild-type mice of 2.5–3 months of age. The study revealed not statistically significant higher level of ophthalmoscopic violations in FUS[1-359] mice. Moreover, gene expression assay confirmed an increased expression of the inflammatory genes Vegfa, Il1b, Il6, Icam1, Tnfa. However, despite the detected structural and functional abnormalities, western blot analysis and quantitative PCR did not detect the expression of the protein and mRNA products of the FUS transgene in the retina of FUS[1-359] mice.
Keywords: inflammation, FUS protein, transgenic mice, ALS, retinopathy