WNK2 and Abnormal retinal morphology: Elevated gene expression of crystallins (an apoptosis regulating proteins in mice) was observed in animal models of retinal diseases including DR; in a study, this was induced by a high fat diet in mice; compared to a group of high fat diet consuming bilberries, bilberry downregulated crystallins in addition to decreased gene expression in pathway of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and enhanced gene expression in the glutathione metabolism pathway eliciting an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-apoptotic effects (Mykkänen et al. 2012).