The Role of the Microglial Cx3cr1 Pathway in the Postnatal Maturation of Retinal Photoreceptors.

ABSTRACT: Microglia are the resident immune cells of the CNS, and their response to infection, injury and disease is well documented. More recently, microglia have been shown to play a role in normal CNS development, with the fractalkine-Cx3cr1 signaling pathway of particular importance. This work describes the interaction between the light-sensitive photoreceptors and microglia during eye opening, a time of postnatal photoreceptor maturation. Genetic removal of Cx3cr1 (Cx3cr1GFP/GFP ) led to an early retinal dysfunction soon after eye opening [postnatal day 17 (P17)] and cone photoreceptor loss (P30 onward) in mice of either sex. This dysfunction occurred at a time when fractalkine expression was predominantly outer retinal, when there was an increased microglial presence near the photoreceptor lay

SUBMITTER: Jobling AI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6596015 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature