Journal: International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Article Title: Long-Acting FGF21 Inhibits Retinal Vascular Leakage in In Vivo and In Vitro Models

doi: 10.3390/ijms21041188

Figure Lengend Snippet: Fibroblast growth factor 21 ( FGF21) treatment prevents and FGF21 deficiency Increases vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) -induced retinal vascular leakage in the mouse model. ( A ) The time course of this study. ( B – D ) Representative confocal microscopy images of whole-mounted retina. ( E – G ) Images of retina after segmentation with ZEISS Efficient Navigation (ZEN) Intellesis. ( B and E ) Representative retinal image of controls. ( C and F ) Control Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS) treatment with intravitreal injection of mouse (m) VEGF. ( D and G ) FGF21 (long-acting FGF21; PF05231023) treatment with intravitreal injection of mouse (m) VEGF. The yellow FITC indicates leakage; the red lectin stain indicates vessels and artifacts; the cyan shows background. ( H ) The intensity of retinal vascular leakage was increased in animals injected with mVEGF and treated with PBS (square), compared to controls (circle, n = 9–14; p = 0.046). Leakage intensity was reduced in FGF21 (triangle) versus PBS-treated groups ( n = 14–15; p = 0.01). The data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey and were expressed as mean ± standard error (SE) Scale bar is 1 mm. ( I and J ) Representative confocal microscopy images of retinas in Fgf21 +/+ and Fgf21 −/− littermate mice. Representative images are shown. ( K and L ) Images of retina after segmentation with ZEN Intellesis. ( M ) The data were analyzed by unpaired t -test and were expressed as mean ± SE. Fold change compared with the wild type group was calculated ( n = 5–7; p = 0.037). Scale bar is 1mm. i.p., intraperitoneal injection, i.v., intravitreal injection, FGF21, long-acting FGF21 (PF05231023). Fold change was calculated (* p < 0.05).

Article Snippet: The fluorescence intensity of FITC-dextran from vascular leakage was analyzed with the machine learning software “ZEISS Efficient Navigation (ZEN) Intellesis”, to segment and quantify leakage.

Techniques: Confocal Microscopy, Injection, Staining