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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Apr 26.
Published in final edited form as: Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2013 Aug 27;54(8):5797–5806. doi: 10.1167/iovs.13-11634

Figure 1. The 50/10 OIR insult induces pathologies reminiscent of human ROP.

Figure 1

Litters of 12-14 Sprague Dawley pups were raised with their dams in either normoxia or under conditions of fluctuating oxygen levels between 50% and 10% every 24 hours, for the first 14 days of life (N = Normoxia raised. OIR = 50/10 OIR raised; White arrowheads indicate PRNV; aa – avascular area). A) Examples of whole flatmounted retinas from p20 rats were fixed and stained for isolectin-B4. Exposure to the 50/10 OIR conditions induced: B) PRNV (p<0.001, unpaired t-test), C) increased arterial tortuosity (P<0.05, unpaired t-test) and D) Significantly decreased retinal vascular area compared with normoxic raised pups (p<0.001, unpaired t-test). In addition protein was extracted from P20 rats raised either in normoxia (N) or in altered oxygen levels between 50-10% (OIR) and subjected to immunoblotting using panVEGF, VEGFxxxb, or β-actin antibodies. E) OIR increased total VEGF expression compared to normoxic controls (left), however it reduced the number of VEGFxxxb splice isoforms detected (right). Scale bar = 1mm.