Spatiotemporal Live-Cell Analysis of Photoreceptor Outer Segment Membrane Ingestion by the Retinal Pigment Epithelium Reveals Actin-Regulated Scission.

ABSTRACT: The photoreceptor outer segment (OS) is the phototransductive organelle in the vertebrate retina. OS tips are regularly ingested and degraded by the adjacent retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), offsetting the addition of new disk membrane at the base of the OS. This catabolic role of the RPE is essential for photoreceptor health, with defects in ingestion or degradation underlying different forms of retinal degeneration and blindness. Although proteins required for OS tip ingestion have been identified, spatiotemporal analysis of the ingestion process in live RPE cells is lacking; hence, the literature reflects no common understanding of the cellular mechanisms that affect ingestion. We imaged live RPE cells from mice (both sexes) to elucidate the ingestion events in real time. Our imaging r

SUBMITTER: Umapathy A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10089248 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature