Investigations on the Role of the Fibrinolytic Pathway on Outflow Facility Regulation.

Purpose: To understand the role and further dissect pathways downstream of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and the fibrinolytic pathway in modulating outflow facility.

Methods: Outflow facility of tissue plasminogen activator (Plat) knockout (KO) mice was determined and compared to that of wild-type (WT) littermates. Gene expression of urokinase plasminogen activator (Plau), plasminogen activator inhibitor (Pai-1), plasminogen (Plg), and matrix metalloproteinases (Mmp-2, -9, and -13) was measured in angle tissues.

CNS synapses are stabilized trans-synaptically by laminins and laminin-interacting proteins.

The retina expresses several laminins in the outer plexiform layer (OPL), where they may provide an extracellular scaffold for synapse stabilization. Mice with a targeted deletion of the laminin β2 gene (Lamb2) exhibit retinal disruptions: photoreceptor synapses in the OPL are disorganized and the retinal physiological response is attenuated. We hypothesize that laminins are required for proper trans-synaptic alignment.

Can Visual Field Progression be Predicted by Confocal Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopic Imaging of the Optic Nerve Head in Glaucoma? (An American Ophthalmological Society Thesis).

Purpose: To determine whether confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopic imaging (Heidelberg retinal tomography [HRT]) can predict visual field change in glaucoma.

Methods: The study included 561 patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension whose clinical course was followed at the Mount Sinai Faculty practice. Humphrey visual fields (HVFs) and HRT images were collected on one randomly selected eye per patient.

Single and Compound Knock-outs of MicroRNA (miRNA)-155 and Its Angiogenic Gene Target CCN1 in Mice Alter Vascular and Neovascular Growth in the Retina via Resident Microglia.

The response of the retina to ischemic insult typically leads to aberrant retinal neovascularization, a major cause of blindness. The epigenetic regulation of angiogenic gene expression by miRNAs provides new prospects for their therapeutic utility in retinal neovascularization. Here, we focus on miR-155, a microRNA functionally important in inflammation, which is of paramount importance in the pathogenesis of retinal neovascularization.

The Representation of Orientation in Macaque V2: Four Stripes Not Three.

Area V2 of macaque monkeys is traditionally thought to consist of 3 distinct functional compartments with characteristic cortical connections and functional properties. Orientation selectivity is one property that has frequently been used to distinguish V2 stripes, however, this receptive field property has been found in a high percentage of neurons across V2 compartments. Using quantitative intrinsic cortical imaging, we derived maps of preferred orientation, orientation selectivity, and orientation gradient in thin stripes, thick stripes, and interstripes in area V2.

Antioxidants: The Missing Key to Improved Therapeutic Intervention in Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome?

Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome (SLOS) is a recessive hereditary disease caused by an enzymatic defect in the biosynthesis of cholesterol. To date, the therapeutic standard of care for this disease has been cholesterol supplementation therapy. However, the efficacy of this treatment is extremely variable and, in many if not most cases, is poor.

The cell-matrix interface: a possible target for treating retinal vascular related pathologies.

Retinal vasculature related pathologies account for a large proportion of global blindness. Choroidal neovascularization accompanying age-related macular degeneration is the largest cause of blindness in people over the age of 65 years, proliferative diabetic retinopathy is the main cause of acquired blindness in working adults, and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is the leading cause of acquired blindness in children. Given the great success in treating the first category of these conditions with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapy, there is understandably considerable interest to employ this strategy to other retinal vascular disorders.

Site-specific transgenesis in Xenopus.

Transgenesis is an essential, powerful tool for investigating gene function and the activities of enhancers, promoters, and transcription factors in the chromatin environment. In Xenopus, current methods generate germ-line transgenics by random insertion, often resulting in mosaicism, position-dependent variations in expression, and lab-to-lab differences in efficiency. We have developed and tested a Xenopus FLP-FRT recombinase-mediated transgenesis (X-FRMT) method.