Inhibitory effect of maspinon neovascularization in diabetic retinopathy

Figure 1 Retinal neovascularization was determined by counting the vascular cell nuclei (arrow) breaking through the inner limiting membrane on postnatal day 17. A: No nuclei were detected in the normal control group; B, C: There were many pathologic neovascular tufts beyond the inner limiting membrane (ILM) in the oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) group; D, E: Fewer vascular cell nuclei broke through the ILM in the maspin injection OIR group than in the OIR group but more than that in the normal control group. Magnification ×400; F: Data are means ± SD. ^bP < 0.01 vs normal control group; ^cP < 0.001 vs normal control group; ^dP < 0.01 vs the OIR group. OIR: Oxygen-induced retinopathy.

Figure 2 Maspin downregulated vascular endothelial growth factor and hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha expression in the maspin injection oxygen-induced retinopathy group. A, B, C: Relative protein expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α) were determined by western blotting; D, E: Relative mRNA expression of VEGF and HIF-1α were assayed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Data are means ± SD. ^bP < 0.01 vs normal control group; ^cP < 0.001 vs normal control group; ^dP < 0.01 vs oxygen-induced retinopathy group. VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor; HIF-1α: Hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha; OIR: Oxygen-induced retinopathy.