Expression of Nestin on Endothelial Cells and Pericytes During Retinal Vascular Development in Mouse

PURPOSE: Nestin, a marker of neural stem cells, is expressed in Müller cells during retinal development. However, the role of nestin in retinal vascular development is not well established. Thus, we investigated the expression of nestin in developmental mouse retina and identified which retinal cells are related to the expression of nestin during the retinal vascular development. METHODS: Eyes were enucleated from C57BL/6 mice on postnatal day (P) 4, P8, P12, P16 and P26. Immunofluorescence was used to evaluate nestin expression in relation to endothelial cells (isolectin B4), pericytes (neural/glial antigen 2) and astrocytes (glial fibrillary acidic protein). RESULTS: Nestin was strongly expressed from the ganglion cell layer to retinoblast layer at P4. At P8, P12 and P16, the expression of nestin was observed from the upper border of the ganglion cell layer, and vertically penetrating to outer nuclear layer. At P26, the expression of nestin was decreased and confined to the ganglion cell layer and inner nuclear layer. Interestingly, there was strong vascular shape expression of nestin at all stages. The superficial, deep and intermediate vascular plexus was completely merged with nestin expression at P4, P8, P12 and P16. In addition, the nestin expression merged with pericytes but not with astrocytes. CONCLUSIONS: Nestin was expressed in endothelial cells and pericytes during retinal vascular development in the retina. These results suggest that nestin could play an important role in developmental angiogenesis via interplay with endothelial cells and pericytes.

Morphology and Distribution of the Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide (VIP)-Immunoreactive Amacrine Cells in the Mouse Retina / 대한해부학회지

Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) is a neuroactive substance that is widely expressed in both non-mammalian and mammalian retinas. In this study, we immunocytochemically identified and investigated the VIP-containing neurons in the mouse retina, which has become an important model for the study of the structure and function of the mammalian retina, mainly because of the wide availability of transgenic animals. VIP immunoreactivity was observed in the somata of the amacrine cells in the inner nuclear layer (INL) and their varicose processes ramifying in strata 1 and 3 of the inner plexifrom layer (IPL). The distribution of VIP-immunoreactive (IR) amacrine cells showed a peak of 430 cells/mm2 in the central retina and minimum values of 50 cells/mm2 in the peripheral one. Double-label experiments demonstrated that all VIP-IR amacrine cells possessed GABA immunoreactivity. These results demonstrate that VIP-IR amacrine cells of the mouse retina make up a neurochemically and morphologically distinct subpopulation of the GABAergic amacrine cell population.