Diabetes and the retina (eldre-affy-mouse-319092)

ABSTRACT: Diabetes is a disease now affecting more than 20 million people in the United States alone. When left untreated it has numerous debilitating effects including diabetic retinopathy, which is characterized by the death of retinal neurons as well as a breakdown of the retinal vascularization. This leads to nearly 24,000 cases of blindness each year among diabetic patients. Studies have shown the importance of both nitric oxide and the gene VEGF in retinopathy, however little is known about the condition's progression. This study would determine which genes are affected early in diabetes and more generally, give insite into how neural degeneration occurs in the retina. We aim to show the gene-level changes in the diabetic mouse retina five weeks after induction of diabetes. Our laboratory's primary focus is on NO production through nNOS, iNOS and endothelial (eNOS). We hope to be able to correlate some of the transcript level changes with genes known to be involved in the NO signalling pathways. Previous data by our lab and others have shown that neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and inducible NOS (iNOS) are upregulated under diabetic conditions in the retina. Additional work in our lab has shown that the lack of nitric oxide (NO) produced by nNOS may affect neurotransmitter production, particularly with GABA. We have also shown that mice with induced diabetes show neurochemical changes in the retina after only one to three weeks. Thus, we expect to see gene level changes associated with the retina before psysological changes in newly diabetic mice. Adult CD1 mice of random sexes are injected with the drug streptozotocin on three successive days while fasting 8 hours before the injection. This drug selectivley destroys the beta-islet cells of the pancrease. Their blood sugar levels are then tested after a resting period. Mice with glucose levels above 250mg/dL are considered diabetic from the date of the last injection. Mice are then sacrificed after the waiting period by breif isoflourine inhalation followed by decapitation. Retinas are immediately removed in cold HBSS and RNA is extracted using Trizol extraction. To get adequate amounts of RNA, we will pool four retinas (2 animals) together. Keywords: dose response

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE12610 | GEO | 2008/08/30

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA112875

REPOSITORIES: GEO