Abstract
Purpose: :
To analyze morphological changes in the inner retina of adult Rpe65–/– mice. To evaluate the effects of subretinal injection of a therapeutic virus, lentivirus–hRPE65, on these changes.
Methods: :
Rpe65–/– mice were treated at age 4 months with subretinal injection of lentivirus–hRPE65. Contralateral eyes were injected with vehicle alone. After 1–2 months animals were euthanized and eyes were processed for histology. Retinal sections from experimental and control eyes were treated with antibodies specific to different inner retinal cells. Additional eyes were also harvested from untreated Rpe65–/– and wildtype C57Bl/6 mice aged 5 months to 2 years. We used anti–calbindin, anti–calretinin, anti–PKC and anti–GFAP to label the horizontal, amacrine, bipolar, and Muller cells, respectively.
Results: :
There was an upregulation of GFAP in the Muller cells of al Rpe65–/– retinas, regardless of whether the mice had received subretinal injection. Rod bipolar cell dendrites were also shortened in experimental and untreated retinas.
Conclusions: :
Histopathological changes were noted in the inner retina of all Rpe65–/– mice, regardless of whether the eyes had been treated with injection of lentivirus–hRPE65. The significance of these changes in unknown. Further studies will determine what impact these changes have on visual function.
Keywords: gene transfer/gene therapy • immunohistochemistry • retina