Abstract
Presentation Description :
The trophic factor RdCVF is translated and secreted by rod cells from a messenger RNA with intron retention of the nucleoredoxin-like (NXNL1) gene as an inactive truncated thioredoxin that stimulates aerobic glycolysis in cones for their outer segment renewal via binding to its cell surface receptor BSG1, a photoreceptor specific splicing variant of the basigin gene. The action of the thioredoxin RdCVFL, expressed by both rods and cones, relies on NADPH produced from the metabolism of glucose through the pentose phosphate pathway. The model explains adequately why cone outer segments shorten after rod degeneration in retinitis pigmentosa and why non functional cone cell bodies persist for years in these patients, before cones die.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.