Retinal stem/progenitor cells in the ciliary marginal zone complete retinal regeneration: A study of retinal regeneration in a novel animal model. Issue 7 (18th February 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Miyake, Ayumi; Araki, Masasuke
• Is Part Of: Developmental neurobiology. Volume 74:Issue 7(2014:Jul.)
• Page Start: 739
• Page End: 756
• Publication Date: 2014-02-18
• Subjects: Neurobiology -- Periodicals; Neurobiology; Neurobiologie -- Périodiques; Neurobiology; Periodicals; Periodicals; 573.838
• DOI: 10.1002/dneu.22169
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1932-8451

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>ABSTRACT</title> <p>Our research group has extensively studied retinal regeneration in adult <italic>Xenopus laevis</italic>. However, <italic>X. laevis</italic> does not represent a suitable model for multigenerational genetics and genomic approaches. Instead, <italic>Xenopus tropicalis</italic> is considered as the ideal model for these studies, although little is known about retinal regeneration in <italic>X. tropicalis</italic>. In the present study, we showed that a complete retina regenerates at approximately 30 days after whole retinal removal. The regenerating retina was derived from the stem/progenitor cells in the ciliary marginal zone (CMZ), indicating a novel mode of vertebrate retinal regeneration, which has not been previously reported. In a previous study, we showed that in <italic>X. laevis</italic>, retinal regeneration occurs primarily through the transdifferentiation of retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells. RPE cells migrate to the retinal vascular membrane and reform a new epithelium, which then differentiates into the retina. In <italic>X. tropicalis</italic>, RPE cells also migrated to the vascular membrane, but transdifferentiation was not evident. Using two tissue culture models of RPE tissues, it was shown that in <italic>X. laevis</italic> RPE culture neuronal differentiation and reconstruction of the retinal three‐dimensional (3‐D) structure were clearly observed, while in <italic>X. tropicalis</italic> RPE culture neither ßIII tubulin‐positive cells nor 3‐D retinal structure were seen. These results indicate that the two <italic>Xenopus</italic> species are excellent models to clarify the cellular and molecular mechanisms of retinal regeneration, as these animals have contrasting modes of regeneration; one mode primarily involves RPE cells and the other mode involves stem/progenitor cells in the CMZ. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 74: 739–756, 2014</p> </abstract>