The minor effect of PBS or scrambled ODN treatment on photoreceptor survival as observed on flat-mount retinas rhodopsin immunohistochemistry compared to untreated control (see Table 2) may be attributed to the induction of endogenous neurotrophic factors, known to delay retinal degeneration in the rd1 mouse model [39,55,56]. The gene discussed is RHO; the disease is retinal degeneration.