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1000
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Abstract/Summary
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High myopia is a leading cause of blindness worldwide. It may lead to emotional defects that rely closely on the link
between visual sensation and the central nervous system. However, the extent of the defects and its underlying
mechanism remain unknown. Here, we report that highly myopic patients exhibit greater anxiety, accompanied by
higher CC chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2) and monocyte levels in the blood. Similar findings are found in the mouse
model of high myopia. Mechanistic evaluations using GFP-positive bone marrow chimeric mice, parabiotic mouse
model, enhanced magnetic resonance imaging, etc., show that highly myopic visual stimulation increases CCL2
expression in eyes, aggravates monocyte/macrophage infiltration into eyes and brains, and disrupts blood–ocular
barrier and blood–brain barrier of mice. Conversely, Ccl2-deficient highly myopic mice exhibit attenuated ocular and
brain infiltration of monocytes/macrophages, reduced disruption of the blood–ocular barrier and blood–brain barrier,
and less anxiety. Substantial alleviation of high myopia-related anxiety can also be achieved with the administration of
CCL2-neutralizing antibodies. Our results establish the association between high myopia and anxiety, and implicate
the CCL2-mediated inflammatory pathogenesis as an underlying mechanism.
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