Uric acid

The activities of plasma enzymes alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (Abcam, Cambridge, MA, USA), aspartate aminotransferase (GOT) (Abcam, Cambridge, MA, USA), alkaline phosphatase (Abcam, Cambridge, MA, USA), in addition to the plasma levels of total bilirubin (Abcam, Cambridge, MA, USA), albumin (Abcam, Cambridge, MA, USA), chloride (Abcam, Cambridge, MA, USA), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (Fisher Scientific, Madrid, Spain), creatinine (Abcam, Cambridge, MA, USA), calcium (Abcam, Cambridge, MA, USA), phosphate (Abcam, Cambridge, MA, USA), sodium (Abcam, Cambridge, MA, USA), potassium (Abcam, Cambridge, MA, USA), urea and uric acid (Abcam, Cambridge, MA, USA), were determined by commercial assay kits.
The determinations of CAT, SOD and GPx in the rabbit retinas were made using the Catalase Assay Kit, the Superoxide Dismutase Assay Kit and the Glutathione Peroxidase Assay Kit (Cayman Chemical, Ann Arbor, MI, USA) by spectrophotometry following the manufacturer protocols.

To quantify the danger/damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), ELISAs were used on supernatant of incubated islets. ELISAs for detecting High-Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1, Qayee-Bio, Shanghai, China), Heat Shock Protein 70 (HSP70, Donglin Sci & Tech, Wuxi/Jiangsu, China), double stranded DNA (dsDNA, BlueGene Biotech, Shanghai, China), and uric acid (Abcam®, Cambridge, UK) were performed according to standard protocols provided by the manufacturer.