Figure 6.

AhR regulates microglial infiltration and angiogenesis in CNV lesions. (A) Iba1 immunopositive cells (red) accumulate subretinally in 11–13 month-old AhR^–/– mice (top right) and within laser-induced CNV lesions of AhR^–/– mice (bottom right); Iba1⁺ cells are absent from the subretinal region in wt mice (top left) and decreased in wt CNV lesions (bottom left); dotted oval demarcates the lesion area in the bottom panels; nuclei are stained blue with Hoechst; representative images are shown; scale bar = 50 µm. (B) The numbers of Iba1⁺ cells in the CNV lesions of wt and AhR^–/– mice were counted using ImageJ (mean and SEM; n = 4/group; ^*p < 0.001). (C, D) Effect of AhR loss on VEGFA, PDGFFB, TGFB1, CCL2, SPP1 and SERPINF1 mRNA expression, using qPCR in (C) ARPE19 cells (mean and SEM; n = 3; ^*p < 0.01, ^***p < 0.0001) and (D) RF/6A cells (mean and SEM; n = 3; ^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.001, ^***p < 0.0001); siC, control siRNA; siAhR5, AhR siRNA; INL, inner nuclear layer; OPL, outer plexiform layer; ONL, outer nuclear layer; ns, not significant