FACS-array profiling in retinal endothelial cells from living mouse retinas

Deregulated retinal angiogenesis directly cause vision loss in many ocular diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity. To identify endothelial-specific genes expressed in angiogenic retinal vessels, we purified genetically labeled endothelial cells from Tie2-GFP transgenic mice and performed gene expression profiling using DNA microarray. To find out genes associated with angiogenesis, comparisons of microarray data were carried out between GFP-negative non-endothelial retinal cells and GFP-positive retinal endothelial cells in angiogenic P8 retina. Eighteen arrays are included. Utilizing fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), we isolated endothelial cells as GFP-positive cells from P8 retina in homozygous Tie2-GFP transgenic mice. GFP-negative cells were served as non-endothelial control. RNA extracts from sorted cells were amplified and then hybridized to Affymetrix MGU74v2 series arrays in triplicate.