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

Figure 8

Effects of UPARANT on gliosis and retinal cell death. (a, c) Transcript levels of GFAP (a) and caspase-3 (c) were evaluated by qPCR. Data were analyzed by the formula 2^−∆∆CT using Rpl13a and Hprt as internal standards. (b, d) Protein levels of GFAP (b) and active caspase-3 (d) were evaluated by Western blot and densitometric analysis using β-actin as the loading control. In untreated or vehicle-treated SDT rats, levels of GFAP and caspase-3 were increased with respect to SD rats, while UPARANT treatment reduced this increase. and versus control; , , and versus vehicle (one-way ANOVA followed by Newman–Keuls’ multiple comparison posttest; power values: 0.94 (a), 0.99 (b), 0.87 (c), and 0.99 (d)). Each column represents the mean ± SEM of data from 3 independent samples, each containing 1 retina.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)