Abstract
Purpose: :
Erythropoietin (EPO) is a potent angiogenic factor associated with proliferative diabetic retinopathy. This study was performed to identify erythropoietin receptor (EPOR) mRNA expression in the human diabetic eye.
Methods: :
Post-mortem retinas were obtained from human eyes with and without diabetic retinopathy. Anti-sense RNA and control sense probes were generated from a human EPOR cDNA template. After in situ hybridization, expression patterns of EPOR mRNA were studied with darkfield and phase contrast microscopy.
Results: :
EPOR antisense probes were successfully validated on human pancreas tissue. In the eye, EPOR was expressed in the retinal ganglion cell layer. No expression was observed in the inner or outer nuclear layer. There was no significant difference in the expression patterns observed in normal and diabetic human eyes.
Conclusions: :
EPOR expression in retinal ganglion cells is not altered in a human eye with very severe proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
Keywords: diabetic retinopathy • ischemia • gene/expression