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Study · Not a test of the peptide alone · 2021

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Novel Short-Chain Quinones to Treat Vision Loss in a Rat Model of Diabetic Retinopathy.

Daniel A, Premilovac D, Foa L, Feng Z, Shah K, Zhang Q, Woolley KL, Bye N, Smith JA, Gueven N

International journal of molecular sciences20 Jan 2021Cited by 14 (Europe PMC)

PMID33498409 (opens in a new tab)PMCIDPMC7864174 (opens in a new tab)DOI10.3390/ijms22031016 (opens in a new tab)PepBankPUB-33498409
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Summary

Diabetic retinopathy (DR), one of the leading causes of blindness, is mainly diagnosed based on the vascular pathology of the disease. Current treatment options largely focus on this aspect with mostly insufficient therapeutic long-term efficacy. Mounting evidence implicates mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in the central etiology of DR. Consequently, drug candidates that aim at normalizing mitochondrial function could be an attractive therapeutic approach. This study compared the mitoprotective compounds, idebenone and elamipretide, side-by-side against two novel short-chain quinones (SCQs) in a rat model of DR. The model effectively mimicked type 2 diabetes over 21 weeks. During this period, visual acuity was monitored by measuring optokinetic response (OKR). Vision loss occurred 5-8 weeks after the onset of hyperglycemia. After 10 weeks of hyperglycemia, visual function was reduced by 65%. From this point, the right eyes of the animals were topically treated once daily with the test compounds. The left, untreated eye served as an internal control. Only three weeks of topical treatment significantly restored vision from 35% to 58-80%, while visual acuity of the non-treated eyes continued to deteriorate. Interestingly, the two novel SCQs restored visual acuity better than idebenone or elamipretide. This was also reflected by protection of retinal pathology against oxidative damage, retinal ganglion cell loss, reactive gliosis, vascular leakage, and retinal thinning. Overall, mitoprotective and, in particular, SCQ-based compounds have the potential to be developed into effective and fast-acting drug candidates against DR.
CC BYText from Europe PMC. Highlighted sentences are the source of results.

Results from this study1

No result from this study comes from a test of the peptide.

Studies that did not test the peptide alone1

In this study, Elamipretide (SS-31) was a lab tool or a carrier, part of a mix, or the subject of a lab method. These results are not evidence about taking Elamipretide (SS-31).

  1. 01AnimalNot a test of Elamipretide (SS-31) aloneAnimal study (in vivo)Efficacy outcome

    In rats with diabetic retinopathy, three weeks of topical treatment with the pooled test compounds (idebenone, elamipretide and two novel quinones) restored visual acuity from 35% to 58-80%, while untreated eyes kept deteriorating.

    In plain wordsIn rats with diabetic eye disease, eye drops of several compounds, elamipretide among them, restored vision, while untreated eyes got worse.

    Peptide
    Elamipretide (SS-31)
    Outcome
    IncreaseVisual acuity (optokinetic response) after 3 weeks of topical treatment
    Study

    ratn: not reported in source

    Type 2 diabetes rat model of diabetic retinopathy
    Comparator
    Untreated left eye
    Outcome group
    Vision and retina · Eye

    Source sentences

    Summary
    Only three weeks of topical treatment significantly restored vision from 35% to 58-80%, while visual acuity of the non-treated eyes continued to deteriorate.
    2 context sentences
    Summary · context
    This study compared the mitoprotective compounds, idebenone and elamipretide, side-by-side against two novel short-chain quinones (SCQs) in a rat model of DR.
    Summary · context
    From this point, the right eyes of the animals were topically treated once daily with the test compounds.

    In this study, Elamipretide (SS-31) was a lab tool or a carrier, part of a mix, or the subject of a lab method. This result is not evidence about taking Elamipretide (SS-31).

AI wrote and checked these results. AI can make mistakes, so check important results against the source.

Version history

PepBank keeps every version of the data on this study. Status changes from Retraction Watch, Europe PMC and Crossref are listed with their source.

  1. Version 2Current

    10 Oct 2026, 08:19 UTC

    Study results updated

  2. Version 1

    9 Oct 2026, 02:47 UTC

    First added · source update from Europe PMC

Subjects

Terms as the source lists them.

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