Water-soluble C60 fullerene ameliorates astroglial reactivity and TNFa production in retina of diabetic rats

The complications of both first and second types of diabetes mellitus patients are important cause of decline in quality of life and mortality worldwide. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a widespread complication that affects almost 60% of patients with prolonged (at least 10–15 years) diabetes. The critical role of glial cells has been shown in retinopathy initiation in the last decades. Furthermore, glial reactivity and inflammation could be key players in early pathogenesis of DR. Despite the large amount of research data, the approaches of effective DR therapy remain unclear. The progress of DR is accompanied by pro-inflammatory and pro-oxidative changes in retinal cells including astrocytes and Muller cells. Glial reactivity is a key pathogenetic factor of various disorders in neural tissue. Fullerene C60 nanoparticles were confirmed for both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capability. In the presented study glioprotective efficacy of water-soluble hydrated fullerene C60 (C60HyFn) was tested in a STZ-diabetes model during 12 weeks. Exposure of the STZ-diabetic rat group to C60HyFn ameliorated the astrocyte reactivity which was determined via S100β and PARP1 overexpression. Moreover, C60HyFn induced the decrease of TNFα production in the retina of STZ-diabetic rats. By contrast, the treatment with C60HyFn of the normal control rat group didn’t change the content of all abovementioned markers of astrogliosis and inflammation. Thus, diabetes-induced abnormalities in the retina were suppressed via the anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and glioprotective effects of C60HyFn at low doses. The presented results demonstrate that C60HyFn can ensure viability of retinal cells viability through glioprotective effect and could be a new therapeutic nano-strategy of DR treatment.