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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Sep 17.
Published in final edited form as: Nature. 2011 Feb 6;471(7338):325–330. doi: 10.1038/nature09830

Figure 4. DICER1 protects RPE cells from Alu RNA cytotoxicity.

Figure 4

a, Subretinal pAlu, but not pNull, induced wild-type mouse RPE degeneration (fundus photographs, top row; ZO-1 stained (red) flatmounts, bottom row). b, Alu RNA induced human RPE cytotoxicity. Values normalized to pNull or vehicle. * P < 0.05 by Student t test. n=4–6. c, Subretinal Alu RNA isolated and cloned from human GA RPE induced wild-type mouse RPE degeneration. d, Subretinal injection of this Alu RNA, when cleaved by DICER1, did not induce wild-type mouse RPE degeneration (fundus photographs, top row; flatmounts, bottom row) in contrast to mock-cleaved Alu RNA. Degeneration outlined by blue arrowheads (a,c,d). Scale bars (20 µm). n=10–15.