Pharmacological preconditioning by low dose cobalt protoporphyrin induces heme oxygenase-1 overexpression and alleviates retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats

Retinal ischemia-induced neuronal death plays a crucial role in certain severe visual impairment diseases. The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of low dose cobalt protoporphyrin IX (CoPP), an inducer of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), on the retina of rats against ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury.