It has long been believed that the retina of mature mammals is incapable of regeneration. In this study, using the N-methyl-Daspartate neurotoxicity model of adult rat retina, we observed that some Mü ller glial cells were stimulated to proliferate in response to a toxic injury and produce bipolar cells and rod photoreceptors. Although these newly produced neurons were limited in number, retinoic acid treatment promoted the number of regenerated bipolar cells. Moreover, misexpression of basic helix-loop-helix and homeobox genes promoted the induction of amacrine, horizontal, and rod photoreceptor specific phenotypes. These findings demonstrated that retinal neurons regenerated even in adult mammalian retina after toxic injury. Furthermore, we could partially control the fate of the regenerated neurons with extrinsic factors or intrinsic genes. The Mü ller glial cells constitute a potential source for the regeneration of adult mammalian retina and can be a target for drug delivery and gene therapy in retinal degenerative diseases.

SS-OCT system at 1 μm provides macular choroidal thickness maps and allows one to evaluate the choroidal thickness more accurately.

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Macular layer thicknesses measured on SD-OCT images in healthy eyes showed significant variations by sex and age. These findings should inform macular layer thickness analyses in SD-OCT studies of retinal diseases and glaucoma.

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