Allvar Gullstrand (1862-1930)--the gentleman with the lamp.

This is a biography of Allvar Gullstrand (1862-1930) on the occasion of the centennial of his 1911 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. We reviewed pertinent literature and we did archival studies at the Uppsala University Library and the Regional State Archives at Lund as well as the Nobel Archives at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Allvar Gullstrand was a brilliant scientist with an exceptional personality.

Early development of retinal subtypes in long-term cultures of human embryonic retina.

Purpose: To study early signs of neuronal and glial differentiation in the human embryonic retina.

Materials And Methods: 6.5-to 8-week-old human embryos were obtained from elective abortions.

Compartmental localization of gamma-aminobutyric acid type B receptors in the cholinergic circuitry of the rabbit retina.

Although many effects of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) on retinal function have been attributed to GABA(A) and GABA(C) receptors, specific retinal functions have also been shown to be mediated by GABA(B) receptors, including facilitation of light-evoked acetylcholine release from the rabbit retina (Neal and Cunningham [1995] J. Physiol. 482:363-372).

Structural changes in the developing retina maintained in vitro.

The present study examined the emergence of structural remodeling in explanted neonatal rat retina. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated signs of glial and neuronal remodeling after 11 days in vitro and included the activation of Müller cells, the formation of ectopic neuropil areas and sprouting of photoreceptor terminals. We also observed that cholinergic and GABA-ergic amacrine cells displayed signs of disorganized laminations.

Nordic research in ophthalmology.

Nordic ophthalmologists and vision scientists are active in many fields of eye research. This is most evident at the biannual Nordic Congress of Ophthalmology, most recently held in Malmö in June 2004. The authors here review some of the research in vision and ophthalmology presented at this meeting or published recently by Nordic scientists.

Standardized full-field electroretinography in rabbits.

We present a procedure for full-field ERG recording in rabbits, based on the human ERG standards published by the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision (ISCEV). Following initial pilot experiments, six animals aged 3 months and 11 animals between 1 and 2 years were investigated. All animals displayed well detectable and reproducible separate cone and rod responses under appropriate stimulus conditions.

Cystatin C uptake in the eye.

Background: As a secreted protein, cystatin C is assumed to play its role in the extracellular compartment, where it can inhibit virtually all cysteine proteases of families C1 (cathepsin B, L, S) and C13 (mammalian legumain-related proteases). Since many of its potential target enzymes in the eye reside in intracellular compartments, we sought evidence for a cellular uptake of the inhibitor in ocular tissues.

Methods: Fluorescence-labeled human cystatin C was injected intravitreally into normal rat eyes.

Apoptotic cell death and microglial cell responses in cultured rat retina.

Background: Optic nerve transection results in degeneration of axotomized retinal ganglion cells followed by the activation of resident microglial cells.

Methods: An organotypic culture of neonatal rat retina was used to examine the temporal aspect of retinal ganglion cell death and microglial cell recruitment. Retinas were fixed at various times after explantation and prepared for immunohistochemistry and lectin staining.

Cystatin C in the anterior segment of rat and mouse eyes.

Purpose: Cystatin C is a mammalian cysteine protease inhibitor. This study describes the localization of cystatin C in the anterior segment of normal rat and mouse eyes. Cysteine proteases play an important role in protein degradation (e.

Cathepsin B in the rat eye.

Background: Cathepsin B is a mammalian cysteine protease. The enzyme has been suggested to participate in the patophysiological processes of keratoconus as well as in the corneal response to infectious agents. This study describes the localization of cathepsin B in the rat eye.

Neuronal integration in an abutting-retinas culture system.

Purpose: Limited integration is consistently observed between subretinal transplants and host retinas. In the current study, an in vitro model system for studying connections forming between two abutting retinas was developed.

Methods: Neuroretinas were dissected from normal wild-type (WT) mice and green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic mice (obtained at postnatal days [P]0, P5, or P60), as well as from adult rd mice.

COX-2 inhibitors prolong trauma-induced elevations of iris hyaluronan.

Purpose: To investigate whether and how treatment with COX-2 inhibitors influences hyaluronan responses to a standardized trauma, argon laser induced iritis, in rabbits.

Methods: Two different COX-2 inhibitors were used, SC-236 and rofecoxib. The drugs were administered orally, 6 mg/kg/day and 1.

Limitation of anatomical integration between subretinal transplants and the host retina.

Purpose: In previous studies of subretinal transplantation in rabbits, the host photoreceptor layer seemed to prevent the bridging of neuronal fibers between the graft and the host retina. The current study was undertaken to determine whether the same phenomenon occurs in transplants to the subretinal space of the vascularized retina of rats. Bridging of fibers was examined in transplants to animals of different genetic backgrounds (normal versus dystrophic rats), of different ages, and after different survival times.

Effects of sympathetic denervation on the hyaluronan content of the anterior segment in the normal and traumatized rabbit eye.

Purpose: To determine whether there is any involvement of sympathetic nerves in the regulation of ocular hyaluronan production in the normal and traumatized rabbit iris.

Methods: Unilateral sympathetic denervation was performed by removing the right superior cervical ganglion. Hyaluronan concentrations in the iris and aqueous were measured with a radiometric assay at various time intervals after denervation.