Figure 8.

Expression of VEGF protein in nondiabetic and diabetic (6 months after alloxan treatment) rabbits. Western blot analysis of VEGF-2 protein expression in hindlimb muscles (a) and sciatic nerves (b) harvested 2 weeks after sham (saline) or gene injections. Lane 1: nondiabetic, saline injected. Lane 2: diabetic saline-injected. Lane 3: diabetic, VEGF-2 gene transfer. Lane 4: nondiabetic, VEGF-2 gene transfer. Molecular masses are indicated at the right. The precursor form of VEGF-2 is detected as a 58-kDa protein. The level of VEGF-2 protein expression was significantly reduced in diabetic compared with nondiabetic rabbits. VEGF-2 gene transfer led to a restoration of VEGF-2 protein expression in both muscles and nerves of diabetic rabbits that was similar to expression in nondiabetic animals. Western blots were reprobed with an anti–α-tubulin antibody to confirm equal protein loading of lanes. Similar results were obtained in four additional experiments.