This study aimed to investigate the effect of hematoporphyrin dimethylether (HDME)-mediated photodynamic therapy for laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in adult Brown Norway rats. HDME was administered via tail vein at 14 d after the laser photocoagulation, and the rats received irradiance with a laser light at 570 nm at 15 min after injection. CNV was evaluated by fundus photography, fundus fluorescein angiography, optical coherence tomography, and hematoxylin and eosin staining. We found that CNV was occurred at 7 d after photocoagulation and reaching peak activity at 14 d after photocoagulation. There is a significant reduction in the total area of the fluorescein leakage and the number of strong fluorescein leakage spots on 7 d after HDME-mediated photodynamic therapy (PDT). The results suggest that HDME-mediated PDT inhibits laser-induced CNV in rats, representing a promising therapy for wet age-related macular degeneration.
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration; choroidal neovascularization; hematoporphyrin dimethylether; photodynamic therapy.