To evaluate the role of microRNA-126 (miR-126) in maintaining the integrity of the blood-retina barrier (BRB), we established a mouse model of oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) and measured the retinal levels of miR-126 using recombinant plasmid pCMV-MIR or pCMV-MIR-126 intravitreal injections. We also detected VCAM-1 and BCL2L11 levels. Retinal vaso-obliteration, VCAM-1 localization on retinal endothelial cells, the blood-retina vascular permeability or albumin leakage in retinas, TUNEL histology, Evans blue assays, or Western blotting for detecting albumin or tight junction levels in the retina was performed. We also detected the effect of miR-126 on the survival of Müller cells in a mouse model using vimentin fluorescence staining. Our results suggested that miR-126 may not only regulate the overexpression of VCAM-1 or BCL2L11 and lead to the reduction of retinal endothelial cell apoptosis, retinal vascular leakage, or retinal permeability in the OIR mouse model, but may also protect hypoxic retinal Müller cells via the STAT3 signaling pathway. We believe that miR-126 could also be a potential therapeutic agent to maintain the stability of the BRB in ischemic retinopathy.

Keywords:
MicroRNA-126, Vascular cell adhesion molecule 1, BCL2L11, Blood-retina barrier, Tight junction, Ischemic retinopathy
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