Relationship between monocular form deprivation amblyopia and activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated in visual cortex of kittens

Abstract

Abstract Purpose Exploring the role of activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated (Arc) in visual cortex in visual development, and studying its expression changes in amblyopia kittens. Methods Fifteen 3-week-old kittens were randomly selected from the deprivation group and the control group, and raised in the natural environment. Black opaque covering cloth was used to cover the right eye of deprived kittens. Pattern visual evoked potentials (PVEP) was detected at the 3rd, 4th, 6th and 8th weeks of age, and 5 kittens were randomly selected from each group and euthanized after each detection. The Arc expression both at mRNA and protein levels was assessed using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry analyses. Apoptosis of visual cortex cells in 8-week-old kittens was detected by TUNEL. Results With the increase of age, the expression of Arc gene in visual cortex of both the deprivation group and the control group showed an upward trend, but the upward trend of the control group was more obvious. At the age of 8 weeks, the expression of Arc protein (P < 0.05) and mRNA (P < 0.05) in visual cortex of deprived kittens was lower than that of control kittens. Moreover, the number of apoptosis in visual cortex of deprivation group was higher than that of control group (P < 0.05). Correlation analysis shows that the expression of Arc gene was negatively correlated with the apoptosis level of visual cortex neurons. Conclusions The expression of Arc is associated with monocular form deprivation amblyopia and affects the apoptosis of visual cortex cells.