Figure 1. The proliferation of hRECs with exogenous TTR. A: Human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (hRECs) were grown under natural and simulated diabetic retinopathy (DR) conditions. Higher glucose level (5.5 mM increased up to 25 mM) and hypoxia induced by 200 μM CoCl₂ significantly repressed the growth of the hRECs (*: p = 0.01; F = 13.962; #: p = 0.003, F = 22.970; **: p < 0.001, F = 146.184). B: hRECs were cultured in natural and simulated DR conditions with exogenous TTR. After being cultured for 72 h, in the hyperglycemia (HG) and HG+Hypoxia media, TTR significantly decreased the growth of hRECs (**:p < 0.001, F = 188.278; ##: p = 0.003; F = 24.106). In contrast, in the natural medium (LG) and LG+Hypoxia media, TTR slightly enhanced the growth of hRECs (*: p = 0.014, F = 11.877; #: p = 0.034; F = 7.158). “(n=3, mean±SD was calculated).