PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - M Lüke
AU  - K Januschowski
AU  - J Lüke
AU  - S Peters
AU  - N Wirtz
AU  - E Yörük
AU  - C Lüke
AU  - K U Bartz-Schmidt
AU  - S Grisanti
AU  - P Szurman
TI  - The effects of ranibizumab (Lucentis) on retinal function in isolated perfused vertebrate retina
AID  - 10.1136/bjo.2009.157511
DP  - 2009 Oct 01
TA  - British Journal of Ophthalmology
PG  - 1396--1400
VI  - 93
IP  - 10
4099  - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/93/10/1396.short
4100  - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/93/10/1396.full
SO  - Br J Ophthalmol2009 Oct 01; 93
AB  - Background: Intraocular ranibizumab (Lucentis, Novartis, Basel Switzerland) is the primary choice in the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is known to be a survival factor for neuronal cells. Therefore, blockage of all VEGF isoforms by ranibizumab could induce retinal dysfunction.Methods: Using isolated bovine retinas, the electroretinogram (ERG) was recorded as a transretinal potential using Ag/AgCl electrodes, while the retinas were perfused with an oxygen preincubated nutrient solution. For 45 min, ranibizumab was applied at a concentration of 0.2 mg/ml and alternatively the solvent carrier without the active agent. The ERG was monitored before, during and after exposure.Results: The concentration of 0.2 mg/ml ranibizumab induced a non-significant b-wave reduction of 22.32% after exposure (p = 0.13). For the a-wave amplitude only a reduction of 4% was detected (p = 0.18). The solvent carrier induced no significant reduction of the a- and b-wave amplitudes (p = 0.30 and p = 0.979, respectively).Conclusion: In the ex vivo model, the isolated perfused vertebrate retina, ranibizumab has been proven to be a safe compound at the concentrations applied. The stability of the ERG-amplitudes rules out a considerable retinal dysfunction after an injection of up to 1 mg ranibizumab.