FIGURE 9.

The effect of flavonoids on the death of photoreceptors in Rho^P23H/+ mice. (a) TUNEL staining performed in mouse eye cryosections. Dying photoreceptors are stained green. Nuclei stained with DAPI are blue. Scale bar, 50 μm. (b) Quantification of TUNEL-positive photoreceptor cells (n = 10, F_2,30 = 79.85, p < 0.0001). The number of TUNEL-positive cells in the ONL was reduced in flavonoid-treated mice. Error bars indicate S.D. Statistical analysis was performed with the one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc tests. (c) The expression levels of cell death marker genes TNF-α and caspase-3 were examined by RT-qPCR; three runs were performed (TNF-α, n = 3, F_2,9 = 21.13, p = 0.0004; caspase-3, n = 3, F_2,9 = 12.51, p = 0.0025). Relative fold change of these genes' expression was normalized to the expression of Gapdh. Error bars indicate standard deviation (S.D.). The P-values for statistically different changes in the expression of the analyzed genes upon treatment with both flavonoids as compared with vehicle-treated mice are indicated in the figure. Statistical analysis was performed for each gene separately, using one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc tests. V, treated with vehicle, Q, treated with quercetin, M, treated with myricetin