Neutralizing VEGF decreases tortuosity and alters endothelial cell division orientation in arterioles and veins in a rat model of ROP: relevance to plus disease.

PURPOSE To study the effects of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) on endothelial nitric oxide synthetase (eNOS) and retinal vascular tortuosity and cleavage planes in a rat model of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). METHODS Within 4 hours of birth, pups and mothers were cycled between 50% and 10% oxygen daily. At postnatal day (p)12, pups received either intravitreous anti-rat neutralizing antibody to VEGF or control nonimmune rat IgG in one eye and returned to oxygen cycling until p14 when they were placed in room air (RA) for 4 days (50/10 oxygen-induced retinopathy [50/10 OIR]). Tortuosity indices and endothelial cleavage plane angles relative to the long axes of the major retinal vessels during anaphase were calculated from phosphohistone- and Alexa-isolectin-stained retinal flatmounts. Some retinas were processed for eNOS protein or phosphorylated/total eNOS. RESULTS Retinas from 50/10 OIR had increased tortuosity over time with peaks at p12 and p14 (P < 0.001 vs. RA) before the development of intravitreous neovascularization, which peaked at p18. Compared with RA, eNOS/actin in 50/10 OIR retinas was increased at p12 (P = 0.0003) and p14 (P = 0.047). Inhibition of VEGF with a neutralizing antibody decreased tortuosity and caused endothelial mitosis cleavage planes to orient in favor of vessel elongation but did not affect eNOS protein or activation. CONCLUSIONS In the 50/10 OIR model, a model with relevance to ROP, arteriolar tortuosity, and venous dilation are increased through VEGF, which influences the orientation of endothelial cell cleavage in major arterioles and veins, independent of eNOS.