CRITICAL ROLE OF TRKB AND BRAIN-DERIVED NEUROTROPHIC FACTOR IN THE DIFFERENTIATION AND SURVIVAL OF RETINAL-PIGMENT EPITHELIUM

Citation
Zz. Liu et al., CRITICAL ROLE OF TRKB AND BRAIN-DERIVED NEUROTROPHIC FACTOR IN THE DIFFERENTIATION AND SURVIVAL OF RETINAL-PIGMENT EPITHELIUM, The Journal of neuroscience, 17(22), 1997, pp. 8749-8755
Citations number
54
Categorie Soggetti
Neurosciences
Journal title
ISSN journal
02706474
Volume
17
Issue
22
Year of publication
1997
Pages
8749 - 8755
Database
ISI
SICI code
0270-6474(1997)17:22<8749:CROTAB>2.0.ZU;2-Z
Abstract
In the vertebrate eye, the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and the ne ural retina arise from a single layer of neuroectoderm. Factors influe ncing the differentiation of retinal neurons have been identified; how ever, little is known about molecules directing the differentiation of the RPE. Here we have found that the neurotrophin brain-derived neuro trophic factor (BDNF) plays an autocrine role in the differentiation a nd survival of Xenopus laevis RPE. Fluorescent in situ hybridization s tudies showed a precise cc-expression of BDNF and its receptor trkB in the retinal neuroepithelium and actively differentiating RPE; in vitr o studies demonstrated survival- and differentiation-promoting effects in serum-free explants and dissociated cultures. When a dominant nega tive mutant of the trkB receptor was expressed in developing embryos, severe arrest of RPE differentiation was seen with persistence of nest in- and Notch-positive neuroblasts.