Figure 9.

Functional and structural breakdown of the outer BRB. Whole-mount RPEs from rd10 (A,E), wt (B) and light-induced (C,D) Tvrm4 mice after intravenous injection of FITC-Dextran. Arrowheads show leakage of the fluorescent probe from choroidal vessels between the RPE cells (asterisks). Leakage of the bright, green-fluorescent probe occurs only in mutant mice (A,C), showing that the wt RPE (B) and the peripheral RPE of Tvrm4 mice (D) are intact. E—ZO-1 immunostaining (red signal) and FITC-Dextran (green) in the central RPE portion (rd10 mutant). A large ZO-1 discontinuity overlaps the area of main leakage.