Folic Acid Has a Protective Effect on Retinal Vascular Endothelial Cells against High Glucose.

Zhenglin Wang,Wei Xing,Yan Wu,Yong Wang,Yongli Song,Yun Wang,Hongli Li,Yonggang Liu,Jing Han,Chun Li

doi:10.3390/molecules23092326

Zhenglin Wang, Wei Xing + Show 8 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23092326

Copy DOI

Abstract

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a severe complication of diabetes, which seriously affects the life quality of patients. Because of the damage caused by DR, there is an urgent need to develop effective drugs. Folic acid, a water-soluble vitamin, is one of the vitamin B complexes. Folic acid is widely found in the meat and vegetables. In the clinic, low folic acid levels in the body may have a certain correlation with DR. However, there is no relevant basic research proving a relationship between folic acid levels and DR. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate whether folic acid has a protective effect on the retinal vascular endothelial cells against high glucose levels. Moreover, the molecular mechanism of action of folic acid was further explored. The results showed that folic acid significantly suppressed the cell viability, tube length, migrated cells and the percentage of BrdU+ cells compared with the high glucose group. Moreover, folic acid decreased the mRNA expression of TEAD1 and the protein expression of TEAD1 and YAP1. These findings indicate that folic acid can protect retinal vascular endothelial cells from high glucose-induced injury by regulating the proteins in the Hippo signaling pathway.

Highlights

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) which is characterized by the dysfunction of retinal vessels, capillary loss and endothelial cell damage is one of the most important complications of diabetes mellitus [1].It causes irreversible vision loss in working populations [2,3]
We investigated whether folic acid had a protective effect on retinal vascular endothelial cells against the high glucose levels
We further explored the molecular mechanism of action of folic acid

Summary

Introduction

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) which is characterized by the dysfunction of retinal vessels, capillary loss and endothelial cell damage is one of the most important complications of diabetes mellitus [1]. It causes irreversible vision loss in working populations [2,3]. Folic acid is a form of water-soluble vitamin B. Folic acid exists in fresh fruits, vegetables and meat [5]. Folic acid is mainly present in the form of polyglutamic acid in food and organisms, while in drugs, supplements and Molecules 2018, 23, 2326; doi:10.3390/molecules23092326 www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules

Objectives

Methods

Results