Figure 3. An in silico blood–retina barrier model. A: A model of the retinal microvascular barrier was created in Cytoscape using genes expressed in the retinal microvascular
endothelial cell (RMEC) data set that were also present within barrier-related Gene Ontology lists. These included junctional
proteins not previously reported within the retinal vasculature. GENEmania was used to identify protein–protein interactions
between junctional proteins on the plasma membrane and structural proteins within the cytoplasm. A literature search then
determined the types of interactions between junctional proteins, e.g., homotypic or heterotypic. B: Immunohistochemical staining confirmed the expression within the retinal vasculature of selected junctional proteins from
the in silico barrier model.