Diabetic Retinopathy in the Spontaneously Diabetic Torii Rat: Pathogenetic Mechanisms and Preventive Efficacy of Inhibiting the Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator Receptor System

Figure 11

Effects of UPARANT on upregulated levels of transcription factors. (a) Representative blots from SD controls and untreated or UPARANT-treated SDT and STZ rats. (b, c) Protein levels of pSTAT3 (Tyr²⁰⁵) (b) and pNF-κB p65 (Ser²⁷⁶) (c) were evaluated by the densitometric analysis of the blots depicted in (a) using STAT3 or NF-κB p65 as the loading controls. Hyperglycemia enhanced the phosphorylation of STAT3 at Tyr⁷⁰⁵ and NF-κB p65 at Ser²⁷⁶ in both SDT and STZ rats. The increase in transcription factor phosphorylation was significantly reduced by UPARANT in both SDT and STZ rats. and versus control SD rats; and versus untreated SDT or STZ rats (one-way ANOVA followed by Newman–Keuls’ multiple comparison posttest; power values: 0.99 (b, c)). Each column represents the mean ± SEM of data from 3 independent samples, each containing 1 retina.

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