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Alpha-aminoadipate, glutamate show potential for treating retinal neurodegeneration in experimental study
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Subretinally injecting concentrations of alpha-aminoadipate or glutamate may cause mature Müller glia to dedifferentiate, migrate and generate new retinal neurons and photoreceptors, according to an experimental study involving mice. The results suggest that such injections may offer a potential strategy for treating retinal neurodegeneration, including retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration, the study authors said.
Masumi Takeda, MD, PhD, and colleagues at Harvard Medical School in Boston and Asahikawa Medical College, Japan, evaluated the effects of glutamate stimulation on Müller glia after subretinally injecting various concentrations of alpha-aminoadipate and glutamate in adult mice. They also evaluated the effects of such injections in purified Müller cell cultures.
In purified Müller cell cultures and in vivo, the researchers observed subtoxic levels of glutamate that directly stimulated Müller glia to re-enter the cell cycle and induce neurogenesis.
Alpha-aminoadipate also induced progenitor cell marker expression in Müller cells in vitro or stimulated Müller cell migration to the outer nuclear layer and in vivo differentiation into photoreceptors, according to the study, published in the March issue of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.