Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-hfldf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-12T06:39:14.237Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Reduction of ocular blood flow results in glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression in rat retinal Müller cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

N. N. Osborne
Affiliation:
Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology, University of Oxford, UK
F. Block
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Pharmacology Group, 3400 Göttingen, Germany
K. -H. Sontag
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Pharmacology Group, 3400 Göttingen, Germany

Abstract

Reduction of blood flow to the rat retina was achieved by either clamping both carotid arteries briefly (24 min) or combining clamping of the carotid arteries with permanent occlusion of the vertebral arteries. Analysis of retinas 6 days after operations showed that GFAP immunoreactivity is expressed throughout the retinal Müller cells, although this was variable in retinas from animals where only the carotid arteries were clamped. GFAP immunoreactivity was not associated with retinal Müller cells from control animals and no obvious neuronal damage was observed in retinas from operated animals. These data suggest that Müller-cell GFAP expression may be used as an index to follow possible processes leading to an ischemic insult.

Type
Short Communication
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bignami, A. & Dahl, D. (1979). The radial glia of Müller cells in the rat retina and their response to injury. An immunofluorescence study with antibodies to the glial fibrillary acidic protein. Experimental Eye Research 28, 6369.Google Scholar
Eisenfeld, A.J., Bunt-Milam, A.H. & Sarthy, P.V. (1984). Müller cell expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein after genetic and experimental photoreceptor degeneration in the rat retina. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 25, 13211328.Google ScholarPubMed
Fitzgerald, M.E.C., Vana, B.A. & Reiner, A. (1990). Evidence for retinal pathology following interruption of neural regulation of choroidal blood flow: Müller cells express GFAP following lesions of Edinger-Westphal in pigeons. Current Eye Research 9, 583598.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heim, C., Sieklucka, M.N., Schmidt-Kastner, R., Block, F., Jaspers, R. & Sontag, K.-H. (1990). Transient occlusion of carotid arteries leads to disturbed learning and memory. In Pharmacology of Cerebral Ischemia 1990, ed. Kriegelstein, J. & Oberpichler, H., pp. 5361. Stuttgart: Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft.Google Scholar
Hiscott, P.S., Grierson, I., Trombetta, D.J., Rahi, A.H.S., Marshall, J. & McLeod, D. (1984). Retinal and epiretinal glia – an immunohistochemical study. British Journal of Ophthalmology 68, 698707.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewis, G.P., Erickson, P.A., Guerin, C.J., Anderson, D.H. & Fisher, S.K. (1989). Changes in the expression of specific Müller cell proteins during long-term retinal detachment. Experimental Eye Research 49, 93111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Osborne, N.N., Morgan, B., Ghazi, H. & Beaton, D.W. (1988). Correlation between vimentin, GABA and GFAP immunoreactivities and [3H]-GABA and [3H]-taurine uptake in intact rabbit retina and retinal cell cultures. Biogenic Amines 5, 249268.Google Scholar
Penn, J.S., Thum, L.A., Rhem, M.N. & Dell, S.J. (1988). Effect of oxygen rearing on the electroretinogram and GPA-protein in rat. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 29, 16231630.Google Scholar
Pulsinelli, W.A. & Brierley, J.B. (1979). A new model of bilateral hemispheric ischemia in the unanaesthetized rat. Stroke 10, 267272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt-Kastner, R., Paschen, W., Grosse, Ophoff B. & Hossmann, K. (1989). A modified four vessel occlusion model for inducing incomplete ischemia in rats. Stroke 20, 19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaw, G. & Weber, K. (1983). The structure and development of the rat retina: an immunofluorescence microscopical study using antibodies specific for intermediate filament proteins. European Journal of Cell Biology 30, 219232.Google ScholarPubMed
Siecklucka, M., Heim, C., Sontag, K.-H. & Osborne, N.N. (1991). Transient occlusion of rat carotid arteries increases formation of insoitol phosphate. Evidence for specific effect on α1-receptors. Neurochemistry International 18, 175184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar