Figure 2

Malat1 knockout alleviates diabetes-induced retinal inflammatory cytokines, elevated PRC2 expression, and IgG leakage in vivo. RT-qPCR analyses of the retinas from animals, following two months of poorly controlled diabetes showed increased expressions of (A) MALAT1, (B,C) inflammatory transcripts (TNF-α, IL-6), and (D,E,F) PRC2 components (EZH2, SUZ12, and EED) in WT-D retinas compared to WT-C retinas. Malat1 KO prevented such increases in the M1 KO-D group (data expressed as a ratio to β-actin (mean ± SEM); normalized to WT-C; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, and ****P < 0.0001, compared to WT-C or WT-D; n = 6/group). (H–K) IgG staining shows elevated IgG leakage in I) WT-D retinas (score 3) and reduced leakage in the (K) M1 KO-D retinas (score 1). No changes in IgG leakage were observed between (H) WT-C (score 0) and (J) M1 KO-C (score = 1) animals (scale bar = 10 μM). WT-C = Wild-type control; WT-D = Wild-type diabetic; M1 KO-C = Malat1 KO control; and M1 KO-D = Malat1 KO diabetic.