AIM: To study the inhibitory effect of intravitreal captopril on oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) in mice. METHODS: Eighty postnatal day (P)7 C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into treated group and control group with forty mice in each group. The mice were exposed to 75%± 2% oxygen for 5 days (P7-P11) and then returned to room air for 5 days (P12-P17) to induce retinal neovascularization (RNV). Beginning on P12, the mice in treated group received daily intravitreal injections of captopril(3.0mL/kg), while those in control group received daily intravitreal injections of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) (3.0mL/kg) through P17. After anesthetized at P17, one eye was chosen randomly as experimental eye and were enucleated. RNV was examined by Adenosine diphosphate-ase (ADPase) stained retina flat-mounts and was quantitated histologically by counting the neovascular endothelial cell nuclei anterior to inner limiting membrane (ILM). The expressions of matrix metallopr- oteinase-2 (MMP-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were measured by immunohistochemical method. RESULTS: Comparing with control group, more regular distributions, better branch and reduced density of RNV were observed in eyes of treated group. The number of neovascular cell nuclei was less in treated group than that in control group (t =6.135, P <0.01).Stain of MMP-2 and VEGF was weaker in treated group than that in control group. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that captopril can significantly inhibit RNV in OIR mice.
