Expression data from whole retina of 8-week old db/db diabetic mice and lean littermates

Diabetic retinopathy is one of the leading causes of blindness in diabetic patients. Emerging evidence suggests that retinal neurodegeneration is an early event in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy, but the underlying causes of neuronal loss are unknown. To unravel potential mechanisms underlying early retinal neurodegeneration in diabetic retinopathy, a gene expression profiling study was undertaken to compare the gene expression in retinas of 8-week db/db diabetic mice with that of lean non-diabetic littermates. Retinas were obtained from 8-week db/db diabetic mice and age-matched lean non-diabetic controls. Total RNA was extracted and processed for being hybridized onto affymetrix DNA microarrays.