Transcriptomic Comparison in the Retinas of Two Mouse Models of Diabetes

Mouse models of type I diabetes offer the potential to combine genetic approaches with other pharmacological or physiological manipulations to investigate the pathophysiology and treatment of diabetic retinopathy. Type I diabetes is induced in mice through chemical toxins or may arise spontaneously from genetic mutations. Both models are associated with retinal vascular and neuronal changes. Retinal transcriptomic responses in C57BL/6J mice treated with strepotozotocin and Ins2Akita were compared after 3 months of hyperglycemia. Specific gene expression changes suggest a neurovascular inflammatory response in diabetic retinopathy. Genes common to the two models may represent the response of the retina to hyperglycemia; while changes unique to each model may represent time-dependent disease progression differences in the various models. Further investigation of the commonalities and differences between mouse models of type I diabetes may define cause and effect events in early diabetic retinopathy disease progression. To compare two mouse models of type I diabetes, ie, STZ-induced and Ins2Akita, a gene expression analysis was conducted examining whole retinas collected after 3 months of hyperglycemia.