Analysis of the retinal gene expression after hypoxic preconditioning identifies candidate genes for neuroprotection. Mus musculus

Neuroprotective therapies for retinal degeneration may be used to rescue retinal cells and preserve vision. Hypoxic preconditioning stabilizes the transcription factor HIF-1α in the retina and strongly protects photoreceptors in an animal model of light-induced retinal degeneration. Our data suggest that neuroprotection after hypoxic preconditioning of the retina is the result of the differential expression of a multitude of genes which may act in concert to protect visual cells against a toxic insult. Keywords: hypoxic preconditioning, neuroprotection, transcription-profile, retina Overall design: In total 24 samples were analyzed on Affymetrix mouse 430.2 arrays, the samples represent different durations of regeneration (none = 0 h, 2 h, 4 h and 16 h) from hypoxic or normoxic treatments, that were tested in triplicates.