Retinal dysfunction in diabetic Ren-2 rats is ameliorated by treatment with valsartan but not atenolol

Abstract

PURPOSE: To determine whether diabetes leads to retinal neuronal dysfunction in hypertensive transgenic (mRen-2)27 rats (Ren-2), and whether the effect can be prevented by treatment of hypertension with either the angiotensin-1 receptor blocker (AT1-RB) valsartan or the beta1-adrenergic receptor antagonist atenolol. METHODS: Six-week-old Ren-2 rats were made diabetic (streptozotocin 55 mg/kg; n = 34) or remained nondiabetic (0.1 M citrate buffer; n = 43) and studied for 20 weeks. A subset of animals received valsartan (4 mg/kg per day) or atenolol (30 mg/kg per day) by gavage. Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats served as normotensive controls for blood pressure (BP). We evaluated retinal function in a..