Evaluation of the effect of Carvacrol on retinal neovascularization in rats

Objectives: To compare the effect of intraperitoneal administered Carvacrol with bevacizumab in an oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) model in rats. Materials and Methods: Twenty-eight newborn rats were included in the study and the OIR model was created with the 50/10% oxygen style. The study consisted of 4 groups and each rat in the groups received an intraperitoneal injection of 0.01 mL once on the postnatal 14 th day. While the OIR model was not created in Group I (control group), it was created for Groups II, III, and IV. Groups I and II were injected with 0.9% NaCl solution, Group III with bevacizumab, and Group IV with carvacrol. The rats were sacrificed on the postnatal 18 th day. Results: Histopathological and immunohistochemical studies showed that the number of retinal vascular endothelial cells (RVECs) and nuclear factor (NF)-κB levels decreased similarly in Group III and Group IV compared to Group II. RVECs values for Group I, Group II, Group III and Group IV were measured as 1.26±0.80, and 6.22±1.22, respectively and it differed significantly between groups (p<0.001). Likewise, NF-κB levels were recorded as 0.61 ± 0.30, 4.36±0.65, 2.68±0.44, and 2.85±0.58, respectively and it differed significantly between groups (p<0.001). On the other hand, RVECs and NF-κB levels were similar between Group III, and Group IV (p values were 0.58 and 0.91, respectively). Conclusions: The study demonstrated that carvacrol significantly reduced retinal pathological neovascularizations, RVECs, and NF-κB levels. Moreover, the observed effects were comparable to those of bevacizumab.