Establishing a mouse model of choroidal neovascularization to study the therapeutic effect of levotinib and its mechanism

ObjectiveTo study the therapeutic effect and mechanism of levotinib on choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in mice.Methods45 healthy C57BL/6 mice were selected and randomly divided into three groups: control group (group A), model group (group B) and levotinib group (group C). The model of CNV in mice was established. The fluorescence leakage of choroidal lesions in mice was observed by fundus fluorescein angiography. The morphological changes of retinal vessels in mice were observed by retinal slice preparation, the pathological changes of eyeball tissues in mice were observed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in mice retina was detected by real-time quantitative fluorescence PCR, and the protein expression of VEGF in mice retina was detected by Western blotting.ResultOn the 7th, 14th and 21st day after modeling, compared with group B, the fluorescence leakage area of group C mice was significantly reduced, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The morphology of retinal vessels in group A was normal. In group B, the retinal vessels showed large areas of ischemia without perfusion and abundant neovascularization clusters and capillaries. Compared with group B, the morphology of retinal vessels in group C was significantly improved. Group A mice had normal eyeball structure, group B mice had visible spindle-like damage to the inner and outer retina, while group C mice had significantly less spindle-like damage than group B. Compared with group A, group B mice had significantly higher expression of retinal VEGF and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05), but compared with group B mice, the expression of VEGF in the retina of mice in group C was significantly decreased, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Compared with group A, the expression of VEGF in retina of group B mice was significantly increased, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Compared with group B, the expression of VEGF in retina of group C mice was significantly decreased, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05).ConclusionLevatinib has obvious therapeutic effect on CNV, which may be achieved by inhibiting the high expression of VEGF in CNV.