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Effects of Modified Low‐Density Lipoproteins on Human Retinal Pericyte Survival

Abstract: According to a current paradigm cardiovascular diseases can be initiated by exposure of vascular cells to qualitatively modified low‐density lipoproteins (LDL). Capillary leakage, an early feature of diabetic retinopathy, results in the exposure of retinal pericytes to modified LDL, including glycated (G‐LDL) and heavily oxidized glycated LDL (HOG‐LDL). We demonstrate here that modified LDL inhibits the proliferation and survival of cultured human retinal pericytes. Modified LDL also induced DNA fragmentation in bovine retinal pericytes. Overall, HOG‐LDL produced a significantly higher extent of cytotoxicity and apoptosis in retinal pericytes. These results indicate that exposure of pericytes to HOG‐LDL could be implicated in the development of diabetic retinopathy.