Comparison of the effect of intravitreal bevacizumab and intravitreal fasudil on retinal VEGF, TNFα, and caspase 3 levels in an experimental diabetes model

Abstract

AIM: To evaluate the influence of an intravitreal injection of bevacizumab and fasudil on the retinal vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), and caspase 3 levels in a diabetic rabbit model.RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference in the VEGF and caspase 3 levels between groups (P=0.005 and P =0.013, respectively), but the TNFα level did not differ significantly between groups (P=0.792). It was found that VEGF levels were significantly lower in Group 1 and Group 3 than in Group 2 using the Mann-Whitney U test with the Bonferroni correction (P=0.004 for both comparison). There was no statistically significant difference between other groups with regard to VEGF levels (the P value ranged between 0.015 and 0.886). Although the P values of the caspase 3 levels were 0.015 for Group 1 and Group 4, 0.038 for Group 2 and Group 3, and 0.018 for Group 3 and Group 4, these P values remained above the threshold P value of 0.0083, which was the statistically significant level for post hoc tests.CONCLUSION: An intravitreal injection of bevacizumab decreased both the VEGF level, which plays a role in angiogenesis, and the caspase 3 level, which plays a role in apoptosis. Although not as effective as bevacizumab, fasudil had a beneficial effect on the VEGF levels but significantly increased the caspase 3 levels.

Keywords

• bevacizumab
• caspase 3
• experimental diabetes
• fasudil
• tumor necrosis factor alpha
• vascular endothelial growth factor
• vascular endothelial growth factor