Effects of Finasteride on Expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Microvascular Density in Retina of Early Diabetic Rats
January 2004
in “
Chinese Journal of New Drugs and Clinical Remedies
”
Studysummary This study found that finasteride effectively reduced VEGF expression and microvascular development in the retinas of early diabetic rats. Our plain-language summary of this paper — not a Tressless recommendation.
The study investigated the effects of finasteride on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and microvascular density (MVD) in the retinas of early diabetic rats. Twenty-four rats were divided into four groups, with varying treatments including finasteride. After 30 days, results showed that VEGF expression was present in 100% of the control and acarbose-only groups, but significantly reduced to 8% in the group receiving acarbose with 0.1 mg/kg finasteride, and completely absent in the group with 0.2 mg/kg finasteride. MVD also showed significant differences across the groups. The study concluded that finasteride effectively prevented VEGF expression and microvascular development in the retinas of early diabetic rats.
