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A gradient of basic fibroblast growth factor in rod photoreceptors in the normal human retina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Zong-Yi Li ,
Jean H. Chang  and
Ann H. Milam
Zong-Yi Li
Affiliation:
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle
Jean H. Chang
Affiliation:
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle
Ann H. Milam
Affiliation:
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle
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Abstract

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is an inherited disease that causes primary degeneration of rod photoreceptors in the retina. Although the causal gene (e.g. rhodopsin) is thought to be expressed in all rods across the retina, the degeneration is typically nonuniform, with rods in the far periphery surviving significantly longer than those in the midperiphery and macula. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a putative survival factor for photoreceptors, and the characteristic regional pattern of rod cell survival in RP suggested that bFGF might be distributed nonuniformly in the human retina. We performed double-label immunocytochemistry on 15 normal human retinas, using anti-bFGF and other antibody markers for retinal neurons and glia. Immunoreactivity for bFGF was consistently absent from cones but was present in rods, populations of cone bipolar and amacrine cells, Müller glial cells, and astrocytes. In the macula, the percentage of bFGF-reactive rods was very low (~0.5%) but it increased in a central to peripheral gradient, accounting for up to ~88% of the rods in the far periphery. These findings suggest that a central to peripheral gradient of rod bFGF is present in normal human retina and may influence the pattern of photoreceptor degeneration in RP. The absence of bFGF in cones and the low number of bFGF-positive rods in the macula may correlate with the vulnerability of these cells in RP, age-related macular degeneration, and other retinal diseases.

Keywords

Human retinaPhotoreceptorBasic fibroblast growth factorRetinitis pigmentosaMacular degeneration

Information

Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , July 1997 , pp. 671 - 679
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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