%0 Journal Article
%A Bazan, Nicolas G.
%T Homeostatic Regulation of Photoreceptor Cell Integrity: Significance of the Potent Mediator Neuroprotectin D1 Biosynthesized from Docosahexaenoic Acid The Proctor Lecture
%B Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science
%D 2007
%R 10.1167/iovs.07-0918
%J Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science
%V 48
%N 11
%P 4866-4881
%@ 1552-5783
%X Vision is sustained by a unique and beautiful relationship—that between photoreceptor cells and retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. From the harmony of this cellular relationship emerges the life-long survival of the photoreceptor cell, despite the fact that the part of the eye where these cells interact is continuously exposed to potentially damaging factors. This relationship is one of the best examples of homeostasis in action as conceptualized for other cells and organs in 1932 by the physiologist Walter B. Cannon in The Wisdom of the Body (New York: W. W. Norton, 1932). Emerging questions to elucidate the intimacy of the successful intercellular relationship between photoreceptors and RPE include: How is integrity of the photoreceptor cell sustained? Does photoreceptor cell outer segment renewal modulate specific survival signaling to support the RPE cell during oxidative and nitrosylative challenges? The answers to these questions are needed to better our understanding of and to develop therapies for retinitis pigmentosa (RP), macular degenerations, and other retinal diseases.
%[ 3/3/2021
%U https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.07-0918