Hypoxia-induced apoptosis of eyeball cells

We aimed to study the effect of acute hypoxic hypoxia and acute hypobaric hypoxia on eye tissue cells in adult rats. In each experiment with acute hypoxic hypoxia and acute hypobaric hypoxia, 12 (4 animals in each group, 24 rats in total) male Wistar rats (24 eyes in each experiment, 48 eyes in total) were used, divided into 3 groups: Group I - intact control, group II - 1 hour after hypoxia, group III - 3 hours after hypoxia. Identification of apoptotic cells in the tissues of the eye was performed by the TUNEL method on frozen eye sections with additional staining with nuclear fluorescent dye Hoechst 33342. The localization and intensity of fluorescent emission in damaged cells were analyzed under a fluorescent microscope using Image J software. When exposed to acute hypobaric hypoxia, selective primary apoptotic damage to the cells of the conjunctiva and the anterior epithelium of the cornea was found. But under conditions of simulated acute hypoxic hypoxia, apoptotic damage to the conjunctiva, corneal epithelium, choroid and photoreceptor layer of the retina was observed. Cells of different parts of the eye of adult rats are characterized by different sensitivity to apoptotic damage in acute hypoxia modeled in this study.