PANRETINAL DEGENERATION ASSOCIATED WITH LONG-TERM HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE USE AND HETEROZYGOUS USH2A MUTATION.

Purpose: To report a case of bilateral panretinal degeneration in a patient with long-term hydroxychloroquine exposure and positive for a heterozygous mutation in the USH2A gene.

Methods: Retrospective case report. Multimodal imaging including spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, fundus autofluorescence, and fluorescein angiography was performed and the results are presented.

Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Microvesicles: Could They be Used for Retinal Regeneration?

Mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) release into the medium in which they are cultured heterogeneous populations of microvesicles (mESMVs), important components of cell-cell communication, that transfer their contents not only to other stem cells but also to cells of other origins. The purpose of these studies was to demonstrate that ESMVs could be the signals that lead the retinal progenitor Müller cells to de-differentiate and re-entry the cell cycle, followed by differentiation along retinal lineages. Indeed, we found that ESMVs induce these processes and change Müller cells' microenvironment towards a more permissive state for tissue regeneration.

Embryonic stem cell-derived microvesicles induce gene expression changes in Müller cells of the retina.

Cell-derived microvesicles (MVs), recognized as important components of cell-cell communication, contain mRNAs, miRNAs, proteins and lipids and transfer their bioactive contents from parent cells to cells of other origins. We have studied the effect that MVs released from embryonic stem cells (ESMVs) have on retinal progenitor Müller cells. Cultured human Müller cells were exposed to mouse ESMVs every 48 hours for a total of 9 treatments.

An age-related sprouting transcriptome provides molecular control of axonal sprouting after stroke.

Stroke is an age-related disease. Recovery after stroke is associated with axonal sprouting in cortex adjacent to the infarct. The molecular program that induces a mature cortical neuron to sprout a new connection after stroke is not known.

Evolution of diaschisis in a focal stroke model.

Background And Purpose: Stroke produces diaschisis in adjacent and connected regions. The sequential changes in diaschisis over time and the relationship of regions of diaschisis to functional cortical areas and regions of poststroke neuroplasticity have not been determined.

Methods: Small cortical strokes were produced in the barrel cortex of rats.

Tissue microenvironments within functional cortical subdivisions adjacent to focal stroke.

Stroke produces a region of complete cell death and areas of partial damage, injury, and gliosis. The spatial relationship of these regions of damage to the infarct core and within spared neuronal circuits has not been identified. A model of cortical stroke was developed within functional subsets of the somatosensory cortex.