Figure 2. TaqMan real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) validation was performed for selected transcripts. The transcripts were amplified as described in Methods section. Three technical replicates were performed for three biologic replicate samples of RNA isolated from nondiabetic animals, diabetic animals and diabetic animals treated with either the inhibitor of receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE) indicated as RI, or the inhibitor of p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) designated as p38. The bars (left to right) represent samples corresponding to diabetic animals, diabetic animals treated with RAGE inhibitor, and diabetic animals treated with p38 MAPK inhibitor, respectively. Fold increase was calculated with respect to nondiabetic controls.