Retinal gene expression in chicks during imposed myopic defocus

The retina plays an important regulatory role in ocular growth. To screen for new retinal candidate genes that could be involved in the inhibition of ocular growth, we used chick microarrays to analyze the changes in retinal mRNA expression after myopic defocus was imposed by positive lens-wear. Chicks were raised under a 12h-light/12h-dark cycle (light-onset: 8:00 am and light-offset: 8:00 pm) with unrestricted access to water and food. On the day prior to the experiment, velcro rings were glued to the feathers around the eye under diethylether anaesthesia. Four male white leghorn chicks, aged 9 days, wore +6.9D spectacle lenses over both eyes for 24 hours. Four untreated age-matched male chicks from the same batch served as controls. After decapitation of the chicks, the eyes were enucleated and the retina was prepared. The retinae from both eyes of each chick were pooled for RNA isolation. Keywords: gene expression comparison Four samples each: Retina of both eyes of +6.9 diopter lens-treated chicks (plus_lens), Retina of both eyes of untreated control chicks (control)