Figure 3. mRNA levels of Bak increased and Bcl-x_L decreased 24 h after I/R. Bax (A), Bak (B), Bcl-2 (C), and Bcl-x_L (D) mRNAs expression was measured by qPCR 24 h after reperfusion. Twenty-four h after reperfusion, ischemia induced a slight decrease in Bax (A), and strongly increase Bak (B) mRNA expression. Anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 expression (C) was not modified, but Bcl-x_L (D) was strongly reduced 24 h after I/R. Figure 1 E,F revealed no modification in Bax:Bcl-2 and a highly significant increase in Bax:Bcl-x_L mRNAs ratio 24 h after I/R. Brown columns denote control retinas (n=6), and beige columns denote ischemic retinas (n=10). Error bars represent SEM, where *p<0.05, **p<0.005, ***p<0.001 in control versus ischemic retinas as measured by Student's t-test.