Figure 2. The expression of microR-29b in the retina of normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. The mature miR-29b expression was evaluated by Taqman real-time qRT–PCR in the retinas of normal and diabetic rats. The total RNA of the retina was reverse transcribed using miR-29b and β-actin-specific primers, and qPCR experiments were performed as described in the methods. The expression of the mature miR-29b was normalized to β-actin. Rats were used in groups of three. Data are means±standard error of the mean from three independent experiments, and each sample was run in six replicates. The paired Student t test was performed to ascertain whether there is statistical significance between the miR-29b expression levels in the retinas of diabetic rats and nondiabetic rats. The asterisk (*) indicates statistical significance at p<0.05.