Neurodegeneration: An early event of diabetic retinopathy

Figure 1 Comparison of the two key elements of neurodegeneration (glial activation and apoptosis) between a representative case of diabetic patient without DR and a non-diabetic subject. As can be seen, neurodegeneration is higher in the retina from the diabetic donor. A: Glial activation in the human retina. Glial fibrillar acidic protein (GFAP) immunofluorescence (green) from a non-diabetic donor (left panel) and a diabetic donor (right panel); B: Apoptosis in the human retina. Upper panel: Non-diabetic donor (B1: Propidium iodide, B2: TUNEL immunofluorescence). Low panel: Diabetic donor (B3: Propidium iodide, B4: TUNEL immunofluorescence). RPE: Retinal pigment epithelium; ONL: Outer nuclear layer; INL: Inner nuclear layer; GCL: Ganglion cell layer. The bar represents 20 μm.