Departmental Papers (Dental)
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
12-6-2011
Publication Source
Molecular Vision
Volume
17
Start Page
3166
Last Page
3174
Abstract
Purpose: A sustained gene modulatory strategy is necessary for regulating abnormal gene expression in diabetic retinopathy, a long-term complication. We investigated the efficacy of a small interference RNA (siRNA) strategy in mediating the long-term downregulatory effect of fibronectin (FN) overexpression in vivo.
Methods: Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats were intravitreally injected with 3 µM of FN-siRNA at six week intervals over a period of 4.5 months. Retinal FN protein expression, vascular basement membrane (BM) thickness, and retinal vascular cell loss were assessed by western blot, electron microscopy, and retinal trypsin digest, respectively.
Results: Retinal FN expression and BM thickness were significantly increased in diabetic rat retinas compared to those in non-diabetic control rats (188±14.2% of control versus 100±7.4% of control, p
Conclusions: These findings suggest that BM thickening is an important target for preventing vascular cell loss in a diabetic retina, and that the siRNA approach could be useful for long-term gene modulation in diabetic retinopathy.
Copyright/Permission Statement
This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 3.0, or CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 (see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ for license terms).
Keywords
Animals, Basement Membrane, Blood Glucose, Body Weight, Capillaries, Diabetic Retinopathy, Fibronectins, Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated, Intravitreal Injections, Male, Pericytes, RNA, Small Interfering, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Retina, Time Factors
Recommended Citation
Roy, S., Nasser, S., Graves, D. T., & Roy, S. (2011). A Long-Term siRNA Strategy Regulates Fibronectin Overexpression and Improves Vascular Lesions in Retinas of Diabetic Rats. Molecular Vision, 17 3166-3174. Retrieved from https://repository.upenn.edu/dental_papers/28
Included in
Animal Diseases Commons, Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism Commons, Eye Diseases Commons, Genetics and Genomics Commons
Date Posted: 02 April 2015
This document has been peer reviewed.