Degeneration of Rat Retina is Paralleled by an Imbalance of the Redox Mechanism of Pteridines

Abstract

The RCS rat suffers from a genetic degeneration of retinal cell We have examined the pattern of oxidized and reduced monapterin and biopterin in retinas from RCS retinas and controls. The ratio of oxidized monapterin to reduced monapterin was significantly increased compared to controls. Since oxidized pterins have been shown to affect the enzyme (HIOMT) to successivly increase the content of melatonin, it can be suggested that destruction of visual cells by light exposure is based on an increase in melatonin content. Consequently, a lack of dihydro-d-monapterin reductase is postulated to be causative in the pathway for blinding in RCS rats.

Keywords

• monapterin
• biopterin
• rcs rat
• long evans rat
• wistar rat
• retina
• dopamine
• melatonin