FIGURE 6.

Preconditioning with ER stress reduces adhesion molecule expression, ameliorates leukostasis, and alleviates vascular leakage in mouse retinas. Eight-week-old C57BL/6J mice received a periocular injection of tunicamycin (TM, 10 ng/eye) in one eye and vehicle in the contralateral eye. Twelve hours later, mice were given an intravitreal injection of TNF-α (1 pmol/eye) or PBS as control in both eyes. Retinal adhesion molecule expression, leukostasis, and vascular permeability were measured 24 h after TNF-α injection. A–D, retinal expression of VCAM-1, ICAM-1, and XBP1S was determined by Western blot analysis and semiquantified by densitometry. **, p < 0.01 versus control; ‡, p < 0.01 versus TNF-α (n = 4 in all groups). E, representative images of retinal leukostasis analyzed by concanavalin A-lectin staining. E, a, control; E, b, TNF-α; E, c, TNF-α with tunicamycin preconditioning. F, quantification of adherent leukocytes per retina (mean ± S.D.). *, p < 0.05 versus control; †, p < 0.05 versus TNF-α (n = 3 in all groups). G, retinal vascular leakage was measured by Evan's blue-albumin method. Results were expressed microgram of extravascular Evan's blue per milligram of total retinal protein. **, p < 0.01 versus control; †, p < 0.05 versus TNF-α (n = 5 in control group, n = 10 in groups of TNF-α or TNF-α with tunicamycin preconditioning).