Figure 4.

Messenger RNA expression of the hypoxic genes, HIF-1α and VEGF-A (A), the prooxidant genes (NOX1, NOX2, NOX4) (B), the antioxidant genes (SOD1, SOD2, SOD3, CAT, GPX1, HO-1) (C) and of the NOS genes (eNOS, nNOS, iNOS) (D) in the eyes treated with vehicle only, I/R + vehicle, betulinic acid (BA) only and I/R + BA. Notably, BA did not prevent upregulation of NOX2 expression induced by I/R. However, mRNA expression of the antioxidant redox genes, SOD3 and HO-1, was markedly increased in mice exposed to I/R and BA. Data are presented as the mean ± SE (** p  <  0.01; * p  <  0.05; n  =  8 per group).