Research progress on visual impairment and optic nerve regeneration in zebrafish / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

ABSTRACT

@#Zebrafish has become a popular model for the study of ocular degenerative diseases due to its similarity with human visual system and its great potential of retinal regeneration. The degenerative diseases, especially retinal degeneration and optic nerve degeneration, can seriously affect visual acuity, also the regeneration and repair are very limited, which can lead to blindness in severe cases. In contrast to mammals, zebrafish can repair optic nerve axon damage and stimulate retinal Müller glial cells to differentiate into multifunctional progenitor cells, thereby, regenerating retinal neurons and nerve axons and restoring normal visual function. This review focuses on the application of zebrafish model in eye diseases and the key signaling pathways of zebrafish retinal neurons and Müller glial cells to initiate regeneration and repair in response to injury.