Revival of light signalling in the postmortem mouse and human retina.

Death is defined as the irreversible cessation of circulatory, respiratory or brain activity. Many peripheral human organs can be transplanted from deceased donors using protocols to optimize viability. However, tissues from the central nervous system rapidly lose viability after circulation ceases, impeding their potential for transplantation.

Constitutive and Regulated Shedding of Soluble FGF Receptors Releases Biologically Active Inhibitors of FGF-2.

The identification of soluble fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptors in blood and the extracellular matrix has led to the prediction that these proteins modulate the diverse biological activities of the FGF family of ligands in vivo. A recent structural characterization of the soluble FGF receptors revealed that they are primarily generated by proteolytic cleavage of the FGFR-1 ectodomain. Efforts to examine their biological properties are now focused on understanding the functional consequences of FGFR-1 ectodomain shedding and how the shedding event is regulated.

Functional diversity of human intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells.

Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) are a subset of cells that participate in image-forming and non-image-forming visual responses. Although both functional and morphological subtypes of ipRGCs have been described in rodents, parallel functional subtypes have not been identified in primate or human retinas. In this study, we used a human organ donor preparation method to measure human ipRGCs' photoresponses.

Bis(monoacylglycero)phosphate lipids in the retinal pigment epithelium implicate lysosomal/endosomal dysfunction in a model of Stargardt disease and human retinas.

Stargardt disease is a juvenile onset retinal degeneration, associated with elevated levels of lipofuscin and its bis-retinoid components, such as N-retinylidene-N-retinylethanolamine (A2E). However, the pathogenesis of Stargardt is still poorly understood and targeted treatments are not available. Utilizing high spatial and high mass resolution matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) imaging mass spectrometry (IMS), we determined alterations of lipid profiles specifically localized to the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) in Abca4 Stargardt model mice compared to their relevant background strain.

Biochemical Measurements of Free Opsin in Macular Degeneration Eyes: Examining the 11- Retinal Deficiency Hypothesis of Delayed Dark Adaptation (An American Ophthalmological Society Thesis).

Purpose: To test the hypothesis that delayed dark adaptation in patients with macular degeneration is due to an excess of free unliganded opsin (apo-opsin) and a deficiency of the visual chromophore, 11 retinal, in rod outer segments.

Methods: A total of 50 human autopsy eyes were harvested from donors with and without macular degeneration within 2-24 hrs. postmortem.