Retinal vascular abnormalities are accompanied by reactive gliosis.

<p>Retinal wholemount staining was performed using fluorescence-conjugated <i>Griffonia simplicifolia</i> isolectin B4 to label blood vessels (A, D, G, L, O; green) in combination with an antibody against vimentin for glial cells (B, E, H, M, P; red) in retinas isolated from non-dystrophic (A–C) and RCS (D–Q) rats at various ages. (C, F, I, N, Q) merged images. (A–C) the non-dystrophic retina showed smooth, well-defined retinal vessels and glial cells. (D–F) RCS rats at 8 weeks (w) of age showed relatively normal retinal vasculature but with slight dilation of retinal capillaries and activation of retinal glia. (G–Q) Capillary dropout, intraretinal neovascularization (large arrows in G, L, O) and retinal gliosis (H, M, P) progressed with time in RCS rats. RCS rats at 25 w of age developed severe capillary dropout, neovascularization and vascular telangiectasis (O–Q). The small arrows in (G) indicate the infiltration of macrophage-like cells. Scale bars: 100 µm.