Abstract
Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a common retinal disease in preterm babies. To prolong the lives of preterm babies, high oxygen is provided to mimic the oxygen level in the intrauterine environment for postnatal organ development. However, hyperoxia-hypoxia induced pathological events occur when babies return to room air, leading to ROP with neuronal degeneration and vascular abnormality that affects retinal functions. With advances in neonatal intensive care, it is no longer uncommon for increased survival of very-low-birth-weight preterm infants, which, therefore, increased the incidence of ROP. ROP is now a major cause of preventable childhood blindness worldwide. Current proven treatment for ROP is limited to invasive retinal ablation, inherently destructive to the retina. The lack of pharmacological treatment for ROP creates a great need for effective and safe therapies in these developing infants. Therefore, it is essential to identify potential therapeutic agents that may have positive ROP outcomes, especially in preserving retinal functions. This review gives an overview of various agents in their efficacy in reducing retinal damages in cell culture tests, animal experiments and clinical studies. New perspectives along the neuroprotective pathways in the developing retina are also reviewed.
Funder
Health and Medical Research Fund, the Food and Health Bureau, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Subject
Inorganic Chemistry,Organic Chemistry,Physical and Theoretical Chemistry,Computer Science Applications,Spectroscopy,Molecular Biology,General Medicine,Catalysis
Cited by
20 articles.
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