Identification of Genes and Pathways Involved in Retinal Neovascularization by Microarray Analysis of Two Animal Models of Retinal Angiogenesis

Comparative retinal gene expression analysis in two rodent models of oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) was performed to identify the genes and pathways involved in retinal neovascularization. Three independent experimental runs were conducted for each species, according to standard protocols for induction of OIR. Total retinal RNA was isolated at two time points, corresponding to the early response to relative hypoxia (P13 in mouse, P15 in rat) and to the later phase of maximum retinal neovascularization (P18 in mouse, P20 in rat) and was used to prepare labeled probes for hybridization. Gene expression was compared between normal and experimental conditions for each species at each time point. Probesets with a false-discovery rate of