Figure 3.

tRF-3001a regulates diabetes-induced retinal vascular dysfunction in vivo

(A) STZ-induced diabetic C57BL/6J mice received intravitreal injections of negative control (NC) agomir, tRF-3001a agomir, NC antagomir, or tRF-3001a antagomir or were left untreated (DR) once a month for 6 months. The non-diabetic C57BL/6J mice were taken as the control (Ctrl) group. qRT-PCRs were conducted to determine the levels of tRF-3001a expression (n = 6).

(B) The mice were infused with Evans blue dye for 2 h. The fluorescence signal of flat-mounted retina was observed under a 4× lens. Evans blue leakage was quantified following 2-, 4-, and 6-month diabetes induction. The representative images were shown at 6 months after diabetes induction (n = 6). Scale bar, 500 μm.

(C) Retinal trypsin digestion was used to detect retinal acellular capillaries. Red arrow indicates acellular capillaries. Quantification analysis was averaged from 15 randomly selected fields per retina. The representative images are shown (n = 6). Scale bar, 10 μm.

(D) qRT-PCR assays were conducted to detect the expression of VEGF, IL-6, IL-1β, ICAM-1, and TNF-α mRNA (n = 6).

(E) ELISA assays were conducted to examine the expression of VEGF, IL-6, IL-1β, ICAM-1, and TNF-α protein in retinal lysates (n = 4). ∗p < 0.05 versus Ctrl; ^#p < 0.05 between the marked groups. The significant difference was evaluated by one-way ANOVA followed by post hoc Bonferroni test. See also Figures S4 and S5.