Acute Stress Responses Are Early Molecular Events of Retinal Degeneration in Abca4-/-Rdh8-/- Mice After Light Exposure.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Mice lacking ATP-binding cassette transporter 4 (ABCA4) and retinol dehydrogenase 8 (RDH8) mimic features of human Stargardt disease and age-related macular degeneration. RNA-sequencing of whole eyes was done to study early gene expression changes in Abca4-/-Rdh8-/- mice.

Methods

Abca4-/-Rdh8-/- mice at 4 weeks of age were exposed to intense light. Total RNA was extracted from whole eyes and used to generate RNA libraries that were paired-end sequenced on the Illumina HiSeq 2500 device. Differentially expressed genes were annotated using Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). Selected genes in enriched pathways exhibiting differential expression were validated using quantitative qRT-PCR and ELISA.

Results

Transcriptome analysis of the whole eye identified 200 ge

SUBMITTER: Parmar T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4928696 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature