Selective inner retinal dysfunction in growth hormone transgenic mice.

Objective: The discovery of locally produced growth hormone (GH) and its receptor in the retina of rodents raises the possibility that GH might modulate retinal function. To test this hypothesis, we determined the retinal electroretinogram (ERG) of bovine GH (bGH) transgenic mice.

Design: ERGs were recorded from 11 wild type (WT) and 9 bGH mice, at 2 months of age in response to a series of light flashes at increasing intensity.

Growth hormone promotes axon growth in the developing nervous system.

Postnatally, endocrine GH is primarily produced by pituitary somatotrophs. GH is, however, also produced in extrapituitary sites, including tissues of the developing nervous system such as the neural retina. Whereas GH roles in the nervous system are starting to emerge, they are still largely unknown.

Retinal anatomy and visual performance in a diurnal cone-rich laboratory rodent, the Nile grass rat (Arvicanthis niloticus).

Unlike laboratory rats and mice, muridae of the Arvicanthis family (A. ansorgei and A. niloticus) are adapted to functioning best in daylight.

Blindness caused by deficiency in AE3 chloride/bicarbonate exchanger.

Background: Vision is initiated by phototransduction in the outer retina by photoreceptors, whose high metabolic rate generates large CO2 loads. Inner retina cells then process the visual signal and CO2. The anion exchanger 3 gene (AE3/Slc4a3) encodes full-length AE3 (AE3fl) and cardiac AE3 (AE3c) isoforms, catalyzing plasma membrane Cl-/HCO3- exchange in Müller (AE3fl) and horizontal (AE3c) cells.

Growth hormone in the visual system: comparative endocrinology.

Growth hormone (GH) is rarely considered to be involved in ocular development or vision or to be present in the visual system. Basic and clinical studies nevertheless support roles for GH in the ocular function of most vertebrate groups and for its extrapituitary production in ocular tissues. The comparative endocrinology of endocrine, autocrine or paracrine GH in the visual system of vertebrates is the focus of this brief review.