Increasing cell culture density during a developmental window prevents fated rod precursors derailment toward hybrid rod-glia cells.

In proliferating multipotent retinal progenitors, transcription factors dynamics set the fate of postmitotic daughter cells, but postmitotic cell fate plasticity driven by extrinsic factors remains controversial. Transcriptome analysis reveals the concurrent expression by postmitotic rod precursors of genes critical for the Müller glia cell fate, which are rarely generated from terminally-dividing progenitors as a pair with rod precursors. By combining gene expression and functional characterisation in single cultured rod precursors, we identified a time-restricted window where increasing cell culture density switches off the expression of genes critical for Müller glial cells. Intriguingly, rod precursors in low cell culture density maintain the expression of genes of rod and glial cell fate and develop a mixed rod/Muller glial cells electrophysiological fingerprint, revealing rods derailment toward a hybrid rod-glial phenotype. The notion of cell culture density as an extrinsic factor critical for preventing rod-fated cells diversion toward a hybrid cell state may explain the occurrence of hybrid rod/MG cells in the adult retina and provide a strategy to improve engraftment yield in regenerative approaches to retinal degenerative disease by stabilising the fate of grafted rod precursors.

Rescuing cones and daylight vision in retinitis pigmentosa mice.

Hallmark of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is the primary, genetic degeneration of rods followed by secondary loss of cones, caused by still elusive biologic mechanisms. We previously shown that exposure of rd10 mutant mice, modeling autosomal recessive RP, to environmental enrichment (EE), with enhanced motor, sensorial and social stimuli, results into a sensible delay of retinal degeneration and vision loss. Searching for effectors of EE-mediated retinal protection, we performed transcriptome analysis of the retina of rd10 enriched and control mice and found that gene expression at the peaks of rod and cone degeneration is characterized by a strong inflammatory/immune response, which is however measurably lower in enrichment conditions. Treating rd10 mice with dexamethasone during the period of maximum photoreceptors death lowered retinal inflammation and caused a preservation of cones and cone-mediated vision. Our findings indicate a link between retinal inflammation and bystander cone degeneration, reinforcing the notion that cone vision in RP can be preserved using anti-inflammatory approaches.-Guadagni, V., Biagioni, M., Novelli, E., Aretini, P., Mazzanti, C. M., Strettoi, E. Rescuing cones and daylight vision in retinitis pigmentosa mice.

Comparative analysis of p4ha1 and p4ha2 expression during Xenopus laevis development.

Collagen prolyl 4-hydroxylases (c-P4Hs) are evolutionary conserved enzymes whose activity is essential for the correct folding of stable triple helical molecules of collagen and collagen-like proteins. They play crucial roles in embryo development, connective tissue functional organization, tumor growth and metastasis. Despite the important function of these enzymes, little is known about their expression during vertebrate development. In this study, we determine and compare the previously undescribed spatio-temporal expression patterns of the p4ha1 and p4ha2 genes, which encode the main subunits containing the enzyme active site, during Xenopus development. The two genes are maternally inherited and share expression in dorsal mesoderm, branchial arches and their derivatives, as well as in the central nervous system, although with distinct spatio-temporal patterns. A major co-expression domain for p4ha1 and p4ha2 is represented by the developing notochord, where these genes are transcribed from early neurula stage to stage 42 tadpole, thus paralleling the profile of collagen II production and suggesting a coordination between collagen synthesis and its post-translational modifications.

Neurotrophin-conjugated nanoparticles prevent retina damage induced by oxidative stress.

Glaucoma and other optic neuropathies are characterized by a loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), a cell layer located in the posterior eye segment. Several preclinical studies demonstrate that neurotrophins (NTs) prevent RGC loss. However, NTs are rarely investigated in the clinic due to various issues, such as difficulties in reaching the retina, the very short half-life of NTs, and the need for multiple injections. We demonstrate that NTs can be conjugated to magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), which act as smart drug carriers. This combines the advantages of the self-localization of the drug in the retina and drug protection from fast degradation. We tested the nerve growth factor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor by comparing the neuroprotection of free versus conjugated proteins in a model of RGC loss induced by oxidative stress. Histological data demonstrated that the conjugated proteins totally prevented RGC loss, in sharp contrast to the equivalent dose of free proteins, which had no effect. The overall data suggest that the nanoscale MNP-protein hybrid is an excellent tool in implementing ocular drug delivery strategies for neuroprotection and therapy.

The bacterial toxin CNF1 as a tool to induce retinal degeneration reminiscent of retinitis pigmentosa.

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) comprises a group of inherited pathologies characterized by progressive photoreceptor degeneration. In rodent models of RP, expression of defective genes and retinal degeneration usually manifest during the first weeks of postnatal life, making it difficult to distinguish consequences of primary genetic defects from abnormalities in retinal development. Moreover, mouse eyes are small and not always adequate to test pharmacological and surgical treatments. An inducible paradigm of retinal degeneration potentially extensible to large animals is therefore desirable. Starting from the serendipitous observation that intraocular injections of a Rho GTPase activator, the bacterial toxin Cytotoxic Necrotizing Factor 1 (CNF1), lead to retinal degeneration, we implemented an inducible model recapitulating most of the key features of Retinitis Pigmentosa. The model also unmasks an intrinsic vulnerability of photoreceptors to the mechanism of CNF1 action, indicating still unexplored molecular pathways potentially leading to the death of these cells in inherited forms of retinal degeneration.

Pharmacological approaches to retinitis pigmentosa: A laboratory perspective.

Retinal photoreceptors are highly specialized and performing neurons. Their cellular architecture is exquisitely designed to host a high concentration of molecules involved in light capture, phototransduction, electric and chemical signaling, membrane and molecular turnover, light and dark adaption, network activities etc. Such high efficiency and molecular complexity require a great metabolic demand, altogether conferring to photoreceptors particular susceptibility to external and internal insults, whose occurrence usually precipitate into degeneration of these cells and blindness. In Retinitis Pigmentosa, an impressive number of mutations in genes expressed in the retina and coding for a large varieties of proteins leads to the progressive death of photoreceptors and blindness. Recent advances in molecular tools have greatly facilitated the identification of the underlying genetics and molecular bases of RP leading to the successful implementation of gene therapy for some types of mutations, with visual restoration in human patients. Yet, genetic heterogeneity of RP makes mutation-independent approaches highly desirable, although many obstacles pave the way to general strategies for treating this complex disease, which remains orphan. The review will focus on treatments for RP based on pharmacological tools, choosing, among the many ongoing studies, approaches which rely on strong experimental evidence or rationale. For perspective treatments, new concepts are foreseen to emerge from basic studies elucidating the pathways connecting the primary mutations to photoreceptor death, possibly revealing common molecular targets for drug intervention.