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Minocycline slows retinopathy progression in rodent model
Minocycline, an antibiotic often used to treat acne, may eventually be helpful in slowing or preventing diabetic retinopathy, a study in rats suggests.
Kyle Krady, PhD, and colleagues at the Penn State College of Medicine found that minocycline limited by 50% the retinal damage caused by microglia in a rat model of diabetic retinopathy.
Previous studies have shown that changes in the body caused by diabetes lead to increased production of cytokines. This study found that, in the early stages of diabetes, elevated levels of cytokines activate microglia, according to a press release from Penn State.
In a laboratory study, rats with diabetes had a fourfold to sixfold increase in cytokines when compared with the retinas of healthy rats. The researchers grew active microglia with retinal cells and randomized the cultures to treatment with minocycline or placebo. Activated microglia caused a 2.5-fold increase in retinal cell death, but in the cultures treated with minocycline almost all the retinal cells survived.
The study is published in the May issue of Diabetes.