Altered gene expression in Diabetic Pericytes associated with Contractile Dysfunction
Project Member(s): Valenzuela, S.
Start year: 2002
Summary: The contraction and nutrition of capillary cells in the retina are controlled by pericytes, by controlling blood-flow in the retinal capillaries. Retinal capillaries are important to the diagnosis and management of diabetes, since microvascular abnormalities are at the earliest stages of diabetes. We have previously deteremined that pericytes from normal retinas contract in response to vasoactive peptides. We aim to quantify the alteration in contractile function of pericytes from diabetic retinas. We propose to use the new tehcnique of gene micorarrays to determine the genetic changes in the diabetic pericytes that underly any alteration in contractile function.
Keywords: Retina; Microvascular cells; Pericytes; Gene analysis
FOR Codes: Cell Physiology, Biochemistry and Cell Biology not elsewhere classified, Medical Physiology not elsewhere classified, Cardiovascular system and diseases, Hearing, vision, speech and their disorders, Hearing, Vision, Speech and Their Disorders, Bioinformatics, Bioinformatics and computational biology, Clinical health