Figure 2. Expression levels of growth factors are affected by retinal damage

At 3 days after NMDA treatment, retinal expression levels of CNTF, IGF-II, FGF1, and FGF2 were increased, whereas the level of IGF-I was decreased. The histogram illustrates the fold difference of the growth factors as measured by quantitative PCR. Fold difference was calculated as 2^x where x equals the C(T)_{NMDA treated} minus C_(T)control. The C_T value is the PCR cycle number at which the reaction enters log phase and is inversely proportional to transcript abundance. C_T values were averages of samples run in triplicate.