FIGURE 4.

Db/db retinas exhibit vascular attrition and accumulation of senescent cells in vasculature. (A) Retinal tissue from 6–9-months mice stained with Isolectin B4 to identify vasculature, and pseudocolored based on confocal sections to distinguish three retinal plexuses; superficial shown in green, intermediate in cyan, and deep in red. Vascular density was assessed as percentage of total area. **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05, ns: not significant. Two-tailed paired t-test was used for analysis. (B) Retinas were stained with antibody against Collagen IV (Red) and with Isolectin B4 (Green) to identify acellular capillaries and compared their frequency in non-diabetic to diabetic. **p < 0.01. (C) Retinas were stained with SA-β-Galactosidase to identify senescent cells by the blue staining. Counterstaining with Isolectin B4 in green to show senescent cells within the retinal vasculature. Scale bars: 50 µm.