Molecular Regulation of Photoreceptor Cell Death

Molecular Regulation of Photoreceptor Cell Death

Death of the photoreceptors, the retinal cells that detect light, is the root cause of vision loss in many forms of retinal degenerative diseases. Retinal detachment occurs when the neural retina is physically separated from the back of the eye, causing the photoreceptors to be starved of oxygen and nutrients, eventually leading to their death. Immune cells in the retina, called microglia, respond to detachment by moving toward the stressed photoreceptors and accumulating in the subretinal space between the photoreceptors and the back of the eye.

David Zacks, M.D., Ph.D., and Steven Abcouwer, Ph.D., have received an R01 grant to explore how both photoreceptors and microglia respond to retinal detachment, asking fundamental questions such as: What determines the life and death of the stressed photoreceptors? What triggers the movement of microglia to the subretinal space? And, once they arrive there, are microglia protective or destructive?

The two predict the answers to these questions will reveal ways by which photoreceptor survival can be promoted and vision can be preserved following retinal detachment and other retinal degenerative diseases.

Steven Abcouwer, PhD.