Preservation of cone photoreceptors after a rapid yet transient degeneration and remodeling in cone-only Nrl-/- mouse retina.

ABSTRACT: Cone photoreceptors are the primary initiator of visual transduction in the human retina. Dysfunction or death of rod photoreceptors precedes cone loss in many retinal and macular degenerative diseases, suggesting a rod-dependent trophic support for cone survival. Rod differentiation and homeostasis are dependent on the basic motif leucine zipper transcription factor neural retina leucine zipper (NRL). The loss of Nrl (Nrl(-/-)) in mice results in a retina with predominantly S-opsin-containing cones that exhibit molecular and functional characteristics of wild-type cones. Here, we report that Nrl(-/-) retina undergoes a rapid but transient period of degeneration in early adulthood, with cone apoptosis, retinal detachment, alterations in retinal vessel structure, and activation and transloc

SUBMITTER: Roger JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3567450 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature