Effects of Different Concentrations Insulin on the Proliferation of Cultured Retinal MLler Cells

Objective: To investigate the effect of different concentrations of insulin on the proliferation in rabbit Mller cells cultured in vitro. Methods: Rabbit retina were collected from 15 days rabbits and Mller cells were primarily cultured and subcultured. After different high concentration insulin were added to the third passage cells at 6h,12h and 24h, MTT assay were used to test the proliferation of the cells. Results: The A value in the insulin groups was higher than that of the normal group at 6h and 12h(P0.001) except 1U/ml group at 6h and 12U/ml group at 12h. There was an ascend trend in A value in Mller cells after exposure to increasing doses of insulin as time went on. But only the 12h group was less than that of control group. Conclusions:Insulin can significantly increase the proliferation of Mller cells at the applicable concentrations and experimental periods. High concentration of insulin can decrease the amount of substances in glutamate-glutamine circulation and glutathione in rabbit retinal Mller cells, thus weakens the neurological protective effects.