Figure 8
Retinal whole-mount analysis shows Chx10-cre; Vhlflox/flox mutant mice develop a PDR phenotype. Retinal whole mounts were analyzed at >3 months of age for a C57BL/6J control mouse (a), a Vhlflox/flox mouse model without cre expression (b) and a Chx10-cre; Vhlflox/+ heterozygous mouse model (c). PECAM (CD31) staining revealed that the three controls had developed a normal capillary bed. In contrast, by postnatal day 8 (P8), the homozygous Chx10-cre; Vhlflox/flox mutant mice had developed severe retinal blood vessel abnormalities (d). Rhodamine dextran perfusions displayed normal capillaries at 2 months of age in Chx10-cre; Vhlflox/+ heterozygous mice (e), whereas capillary dropout and dye leakage denoting neovascularization is visible by P5 in a homozygous mutant (f). Blue asterisk, neovascularization; yellow arrow, capillary dropout; blue arrow, neovascularization of the optic disc. N⩾5 mice, with all mice showing represented retinal phenotypes. Scale bar, 200 μm.
