Down-regulation of microRNA-216a confers protection against yttrium aluminium garnet laser-induced retinal injury the GDNF-mediated GDNF/GFRα1/RET signalling pathway.

Retinal injury plays a leading role in the onset of visual impairment. Current forms of treatment are not able to ameliorate scarring, cell death and tissue and axon regeneration. Recently, microRNA-216a (miR-216a) has been reported to regulate snx5, a novel notch signalling pathway component during retinal development.