The BB Wistar rat: an experimental model for the study of diabetic retinopathy.
Diabetic retinopathy was studied in the spontaneously diabetic BB Wistar rat with respect to qualitative and quantitative structural changes. Trypsin-digested retinal preparations revealed after 8 to 11 months of diabetes a decrease in the pericyte/endothelial cell ratio. Quantitative ultrastructural examinations showed no increase in the vascularity or in basement-membrane thickness in diabetic animals. However, retinal capillaries showed not infrequently occlusions by fibrin and platelet thrombi.
D000818:Animals; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000473:pathology; D002196:Capillaries / Q000473:pathology; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000473:pathology; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000473:pathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000473:pathology