Figure 7. Retinal pericyte loss in diabetic rats. A-D: Representative retinal trypsin digest (RTD) images showing the effect of fibronectin (FN)-siRNA on the development of pericyte ghosts (as indicated by arrows) in retinas of a (A) normal rat, (B) diabetic rat, (C) diabetic rat intravitreally injected with FN–siRNA, and (D) diabetic rat intravitreally injected with scrambled siRNA. FN-siRNA treatment in the diabetic rats specifically reduced pericyte loss compared to uninjected diabetic rats. E: Graphical representation of pericyte dropouts in four groups of rats—normal, diabetic, diabetic injected with FN-siRNA, and diabetic injected with scrambled siRNA—showing that an intravitreal injection of FN-siRNA reduces the pericyte loss in diabetic rat retinas. Normal versus Diabetic *=p<0.05; Diabetic versus Diabetic+FN-siRNA **=p<0.05, n=8.