Protective Effects of Memantine on Hydroquinone-Treated Human Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cells and Human Retinal Müller Cells.

Purpose: Memantine (MEM) acts on the glutamatergic system by blocking N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptors. The role that MEM plays in protecting retinal cells is unknown. Hydroquinone (HQ) is one of the cytotoxic components in cigarette smoke.

Posterior Vitreous Detachment and the Posterior Hyaloid Membrane.

Purpose: Despite posterior vitreous detachment being a common ocular event affecting most individuals in an aging population, there is little consensus regarding its precise anatomic definition. We investigated the morphologic appearance and molecular composition of the posterior hyaloid membrane to determine whether the structure clinically observed enveloping the posterior vitreous surface after posterior vitreous detachment is a true basement membrane and to postulate its origin. Understanding the relationship between the vitreous (in both its attached and detached state) and the internal limiting membrane of the retina is essential to understanding the cause of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment and vitreoretinal interface disorders, as well as potential future prophylactic and treatment strategies.

The human Müller cell line MIO-M1 expresses opsins.

Purpose: To determine whether the human Müller cell line Moorfields/Institute of Ophthalmology-Müller 1 (MIO-M1) expresses opsins.

Methods: The gene expression of opsins was determined by reverse-transcription PCR (RT-PCR). The presence of opsin proteins was determined by western blotting and immunocytochemistry.

MIO-M1 cells and similar muller glial cell lines derived from adult human retina exhibit neural stem cell characteristics.

Growing evidence suggests that glial cells may have a role as neural precursors in the adult central nervous system. Although it has been shown that Müller cells exhibit progenitor characteristics in the postnatal chick and rat retinae, their progenitor-like role in developed human retina is unknown. We first reported the Müller glial characteristics of the spontaneously immortalized human cell line MIO-M1, but recently we have derived similar cell lines from the neural retina of several adult eye donors.