Effect of Estrogen Replacement Treatment on VEGF in Serum and Retina in Rats

Abstract

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a molecule implicated in the pathogenesis of several eye diseases. In this experimental study, we planned to evaluate the effects of surgical menopause and hormone replacement therapy on VEGF levels. Thus, we studied the effects of treatments involving estrogen, estrogen and progesterone (E/P) in combination, and genistein, which is a selective estrogen modulator, on serum VEGF levels and the expression of VEGF in the retinas of rats with surgical menopause.The rats were randomly divided into five groups. Bilateral ovariectomy (OVX) was performed in all groups except for the shamoperated group. estrogen, E/P, genistein or water (sham and control groups) treatments were given for 8 weeks through the orogastric catheter. Serum VEGF level and immunohistochemical staining of VEGF in retinal tissue were analyzed in each group.Serum VEGF levels were significantly higher in the OVX + estrogen and OVX + genistein groups than in the control and sham groups.It was also higher in the OVX + E/P group than in the sham and control groups; however, in this case, the difference was not statistically significant. The OVX + estrogen, OVX + E/P, and OVX + genistein groups exhibited increased VEGF staining in comparison with the control and sham groups. However, the difference was not statistically significant. The current study demonstrated that estrogen replacement treatment (ERT) leads to an increase in serum VEGF levels and progesterone plays a protective role in this increase. The ERT used in this study had no effect on VEGF expression in the retina. Ratlarda Östrojen Replasman Tedavisinin Serum ve Retina VEGF Üzerine EtkisiÖZET Vasküler endoteliyal büyüme faktörü (VEGF) bir çok retinal hastalığın patogenezinde suçlanan bir moleküldür. Bu deneysel çalışmada, cerrahi menapoz ve hormon replasman tedavisinin VEGF düzeyine etkisi araştırılmak istenmiştir. Bu nedenle cerrahi olarak menapoza sokulmuş ratlarda östrojenin, östrojen ve progesteron kombinasyonunun ve selektif bir östrojen modülatörü olan genisteinin serumda VEGF seviyesine ve retinal dokuda VEGF ekspresyonuna bakılmıştır. Ratlar randomize olarak 5 gruba ayrıldı. Şam operasyonu yapılan grup hariç bütün ratlara bilateral ovariektomi (OVX) yapıldı. Bütün ratlara 8 hafta boyunca, orogastrik katerter yoluyla östrojen, progesteron, E/P veya su (şam ve kontrol grupları) tedavileri verildi. Her grupta serum VEGF düzeyi ve retinal dokuda immünhistokimyasal boyama ile VEGF analizi yapıldı. Serum VEGF seviyesi OVX + Östrojen ve OVX + Genistein grubunda kontrol ve şam grubundan daha yüksek bulundu. Serum VEGF düzeyi OVX + E/P grubunda da kontrol ve şam grubundan yüksek bulunda fakat fark istatistiksel olarak anlamlı saptanmadı. OVX + Östrojen, OVX + Progsteron ve OVX + E/P gruplarında VEGF boyanması diğer gruplardan daha fazla olmasına rağmen aradaki fark istatistiksel olarak anlamlı değildi. Bu çalışma göstermiştir ki ovariektomize ratlarda östrojen replasman tedavisi (ERT) serum VEGF seviyesini arttırmıştır, ve progesteron bu artışta ko...

Internal hemipelvectomy is a safe procedure and provides a satisfying outcome for pelvic chondrosarcoma with coexisting pregnancy

“…14 Another study also shows that estrogen replacement treatment (ERT) leads to an increase in serum VEGF levels. 15 Thus, the rapid increase of the tumor size might be indirectly resulted due to highly-expressed estrogen during pregnancy, via VEGF receptor in the chondrosarcoma.…”