Figure 5.

Immunohistochemical (a) western blot (b), and densitometry analysis (c) of NOS1 expression in normal and mutant retinas. (a) NOS1 expression was not detected in the normal retina (A-C), while this protein (red fluorescence) was distinctly expressed in mutant retinas (D-L). There is increased immunolabeling in the inner segment region adjacent to the outer limiting membrane (OLM). There was more intense and widespread immunolabeling of the retina in the xlpra2 retina (D, E) and rcd1 (I). DAPI (blue) nuclear stain. Scale bar: 20 μm; PR: Photoreceptor cells, ONL: outer nuclear layer; INL: inner nuclear layer; GCL: ganglion cell layer. (b) western blot analysis of retinal samples taken in 7.7–13.6 weeks of age time window (see Table 1) with an antibody against NOS1. Equal sample loading was determined with a GAPDH internal control. (c) Normalized NOS1 protein expression as fold increase over normal samples. NOS1 protein levels in the xlpra2 and rcd1 retinas were increased significantly. The results are shown as the means ± SD. The significance of difference among groups was evaluated by a one-way ANOVA with a post hoc ‘Tukey’s test. (One-way ANOVA, *P < 0.05).