FIGURE 3.

TubA preserves cone cells in rd10 mice retinal explants. (A) Schematic diagram outlining the drug treatment protocol in retinal explants from homozygous rd10/rd10 mice (B6.CXBI–Pde6brd10/J) at postnatal day 14 (P14). (B) Retinal section fluorescent images of explants treated with increasing concentrations of TubA or vehicle control, labeled for rhodopsin (rods) and cone arrestin (cones). The total number of nuclei in the outer nuclear layer (ONL) did not change significantly across the TubA treatment group. Likewise, the number of rhodopsin positive outer segments did not significantly change. A dose-dependent increase in the number of cone arrestin positive outer segments was observed, with a significant increase following 100 μM TubA treatment. (C) In wholemount preparations, no significant increase in fluorescence intensity of rhodopsin positive cells, was observed following TubA treatment. A significant increase in the number of cells with cone arrestin positive outer segments was identified at 50 μM and 100 μM TubA treatment. Statistical analysis was performed using One-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparisons. N = 4 per treatment group.