Fig. 1.

Mmp13 expression is induced during CNV. a Representative example of MMP13 mRNA expression in surgically extracted choroidal neovascular membranes of patients with exudative AMD (1–3, n = 3). Intact posterior segments from healthy donors collected maximum 8 h after death were used as controls (n = 4). 28S rRNA and GAPDH mRNA were used as a control to check for RNA degradation. Samples were harvested from tissue in (M) or out of the macula (O) (4–7, n = 4). b,c RT-PCR analysis of Mmp13 mRNA expression in experimental CNV induced by laser burn in mice. RNA was extracted from the entire posterior segment prepared at different times (D0–D14) after laser burn (b). Mmp13 mRNA expression was analyzed after microdissection of intact choroid (intact choroid), burned choroid of wild-type (WT) mice (WT lesion) and Mmp13^−/− mice (Mmp13^−/− lesion) (c). The graphs illustrate the densitometric quantification of Mmp13 mRNA expression normalized to 28S mRNA (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001)