The Role of αA- and αB-Crystallins in the Survival of Retinal Ganglion Cells after Optic Nerve Axotomy

Abstract

Increases of approximately 95% and 75% in RGC survival mediated by alphaA and alphaB overexpression, respectively, were observed 14 days after ONT. At day 7, the RGC protective effect of alphaA and alphaB overexpression was approximately 40%.

Alpha-Crystallin Promotes Rat Retinal Neurite Growth on Myelin Substrates in vitro

“…Previous findings have demonstrated that ␣ -crystallin can promote RGC survival and axonal growth after optic nerve injury [13][14][15] . Because inhibitory microenvironments play a major role in the failure of axonal regeneration, we hypothesized that ␣ -crystallin could counteract inhibitory substrates and promote neurite growth.…”

“…Moreover, peptide mass fingerprinting analysis showed that the lens extract was composed of ␣ -, ␤ -and ␥ -crystallin [13] , thus suggesting that crystallins are the major neuroprotective factors in the lens extract. Munemasa et al [14] reported that ␣ A and ␣ B crystallins could increase the survival of RGC after optic nerve axotomy. Our further studies showed that the axonal density distal to the crush site was significantly higher than in untreated controls up to 4 weeks after a single intravitreal administration of ␣ -crystallin [15] .…”

Distribution of αB-Crystallin in the Central Retina and Optic Nerve Head of Different Mammals and its Changes during Outer and Inner Retinal Degeneration

“…Numerous studies report an increase of ABC within the first few days following an acute insult (diabetes, retinopathy of prematurity, ischemia; reviewed in Fort and Lampi [40]) or optic nerve damage [41,42] but long term regulation is often neglected. In age-related macular degeneration ABC accumulation was described in drusen [43][44][45] and recent interest is focused on this protein in the retinal pigmented epithelium [46,47].…”

Functional rescue of experimental ischemic optic neuropathy with αB-crystallin

“…5,8 Heat shock proteins act as molecular chaperones and are thought to have important roles in optic neuropathies, retinal diseases, and central nervous system inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. [12][13][14][15][16] In this study, we used a mouse model for AION via photochemical thrombosis [5][6][7][8]10,11,17 to examine the early changes following ON head ischemia. We then assessed the effectiveness of a small heat shock protein named aB-crystallin (aBC) in the treatment of experimental AION, using functional and histological approaches.…”