PUBLICATION
Müller glia provide essential tensile strength to the developing retina
- Authors
- MacDonald, R.B., Randlett, O., Oswald, J., Yoshimatsu, T., Franze, K., Harris, W.A.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-150930-5
- Date
- 2015
- Source
- The Journal of cell biology 210: 1075-83 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Harris, William A., MacDonald, Ryan, Randlett, Owen
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Ependymoglial Cells/metabolism*
- Ependymoglial Cells/ultrastructure
- Microscopy, Atomic Force/methods
- Retina/metabolism*
- Retina/ultrastructure
- Tensile Strength/physiology*
- Zebrafish/anatomy & histology
- Zebrafish/embryology*
- PubMed
- 26416961 Full text @ J. Cell Biol.
Citation
MacDonald, R.B., Randlett, O., Oswald, J., Yoshimatsu, T., Franze, K., Harris, W.A. (2015) Müller glia provide essential tensile strength to the developing retina. The Journal of cell biology. 210:1075-83.
Abstract
To investigate the cellular basis of tissue integrity in a vertebrate central nervous system (CNS) tissue, we eliminated Müller glial cells (MG) from the zebrafish retina. For well over a century, glial cells have been ascribed a mechanical role in the support of neural tissues, yet this idea has not been specifically tested in vivo. We report here that retinas devoid of MG rip apart, a defect known as retinoschisis. Using atomic force microscopy, we show that retinas without MG have decreased resistance to tensile stress and are softer than controls. Laser ablation of MG processes showed that these cells are under tension in the tissue. Thus, we propose that MG act like springs that hold the neural retina together, finally confirming an active mechanical role of glial cells in the CNS.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping