In mice with hyperglycemia-associated retinopathy (Figure 3), modeling Phase I ROP with suppression of physiological retinal vascularization, adiponectin (APN) is induced in response to insulin shortage; APN supplementation promotes physiological retinal vessel growth and improves long-term neural retinal function (Fu et al., 2018a). This evidence concerns the gene ADIPOQ and retinopathy of prematurity.