Effects of Benzo(e)Pyrene, a Toxic Component of Cigarette Smoke, on Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells In Vitro

Abstract

These results show that B(e)P is a toxicant to human retinal pigment epithelial cells in vitro. It causes cell death and induces apoptosis by the involvement of multiple caspase pathways.

Nicotine reduces VEGF-secretion and phagocytotic activity in porcine RPE

“…Cigarette smoke extract (CSE) induces dose-dependent cell death in human RPE and ARPE-19 cells [19], and for some components of cigarette smoke, direct apoptotic effects have been found [20,21]. Our data show, however, that nicotine itself has no toxic effect on RPE cells.…”

The Pathophysiology of Cigarette Smoking and Age-Related Macular Degeneration

“…It is plausible that the structural protein changes conferred by these SNPs impair the ability of the mitochondrion to process oxidative stresses. Thus, oxidative damage to mitochondrial DNA leading to RPE apoptosis may be a key step in the initiation of AMD (Sharma et al 2008). …”

“…Benzo [a]pyrene is a PAH found in cigarette smoke and that damages nuclear and mitochondrial DNA in bovine RPE (Patton et al 2002) through the formation of a reactive epoxide. Benzo(e)pyrene is a related polycyclic aromatic hydorcarbon molecule cause caspase mediated cell apoptosis of human RPE cells (Sharma et al 2008) perhaps through the generation of similar epoxides.…”

Molecular regulation of cigarette smoke induced-oxidative stress in human retinal pigment epithelial cells: implications for age-related macular degeneration

“…While some individual components of cigarette smoke cause oxidative damage and apoptosis in RPE cells (31,58,63), there is no information regarding the direct effects of cigarette smoke exposure on human RPE cells. We therefore sought to investigate the molecular and cellular basis for the epidemiological association between cigarette smoke and AMD.…”