Retinal gene expression changes from post-natal 21 (p21) to p60 during retinal degeneration in RCS rat.

Molecular mechanisms underlying retinal degeneration are not well characterized including in the widely utilized Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rat model of retinal degeneration. To better understand molecular pathways driving retinal degeneration we performed mRNA transcriptomics on RCS retinas following the natural progression of the disease. This data can identify novel therapeutic targets for future development. Retinas from RCS rats at p21 (n=6) and p60 (n=6) were collected and processed for RNA-Seq. Each timepoint consisted of n=3 immunocompetent and n=3 immunodeficient RCS rats to identify the effects of the immunodeficient RCS variant.