Light-induced rod and cone cell death and regeneration in the adult albinozebrafish (Danio rerio) retina
- Thomas S. Vihtelic and
- David R. Hyde*
Light-induced photoreceptor cell degeneration has been studied in several species, but not extensively in the teleost fish. Furthermore, the continual production of rods and cones throughout the teleost's life may result in regeneration of lost rods and cones. We exposed adultalbino zebrafish to 7 days of constant darkness, followed by 7 days of constant 8000 lux light, followed by 28 days of recovery in a 14-h light:10-h dark cycle. We characterized the resulting photoreceptor layer cell death and subsequent regeneration using immunohistochemistry and light microscopy. Within the first 24 h of constant light, the zebrafish retina exhibited widespread rod and cone cell apoptosis. High levels of cell proliferation within the inner nuclear layer (INL) were observed within the first 3 days of constant light, as assessed by immunodetection of proliferating cell nuclear antigen and BrdU labeling. The proliferating cells within the INL were closely associated with the radial processes of Müller glia, similar to the pluripotent retinal stem cells observed during embryonic development. Using antibodies generated against the individual zebrafish opsins, we determined that rods and the green, blue, and ultraviolet cone cells were replaced within the 28 day recovery period. While both rods and cones were replaced, the well-ordered cone cell mosaic was not reestablished.
Horizontal cells of the rabbit retina are non-selectively connected to the cones
- Iris Hack and
- Leo Peichl
Mammalian horizontal cells have generally been assumed to be spectrally non-selective in their cone contacts until recently, when specific contacts have been found for some species. The rabbit retina is frequently studied as a representative of dichromatic mammalian retinae. These are the reasons for elucidating the connections of the two types of horizontal cells (A-HCs and B-HCs) with the green-sensitive and blue-sensitive cones of the rabbit retina. Individual A-HCs and B-HCs were revealed by Lucifer Yellow injections, the total cone population overlying them was stained using peanut agglutinin, and the blue cones among these were identified by the antiserum JH 455 against blue cone opsin. Both A-HCs and B-HCs indiscriminately contact the two cone types available. This holds for the green cone-dominated dorsal retina and the blue cone-dominated ventral retina. No evidence was found for a third, potentially blue cone-selective, horizontal cell type.
Distribution of cone photoreceptors in the mammalian retina
- Ágoston Szél
- Pál Röhlich,
- A. Romeo Caffé and
- Theo van Veen
The retina of mammals contains various amounts of cone photoreceptors that are relatively evenly distributed and display a radially or horizontally oriented area of peak density. In most mammalian species two spectrally different classes of cone can be distinguished with various histochemical and physiological methods. These cone classes occur in a relatively constant ratio, middle-to-longwave sensitive cones being predominant over short-wave cones. Recent observations do not support the idea that each cone subpopulation is uniformly distributed across the retina. With appropriate type-specific markers, unexpected patterns of colour cone topography have been revealed. in certain species. In the mouse and the rabbit, the “standard” uniform pattern was found to be confined exclusively to the dorsal retina. In a ventral zone of variable width all cones express short-wave pigment, a phenomenon whose biological significance is not known yet. Dorso-ventral asymmetries have been described in lower vertebrates, matching the spectral distribution of light reaching the retina from various sectors of the visual field. It is not clear, however, whether the retinal cone fields in mammals carry out a function similar to that of their counterparts in fish and amphibians. Since in a number of mammalian species short-wave cones are the first to differentiate, and the expression of the short-wave pigment seems to be the default pathway of cone differentiation, we suggest that the short-wave sensitive cone fields are rudimentary areas conserving an ancestral stage of the photopigment evolution.