Autophagy Involvement in the Postnatal Development of the Rat Retina

During retinal development, a physiologic hypoxia stimulates endothelial cell proliferation. The hypoxic milieu warrants retina vascularization and promotes the activation of several mechanisms aimed to ensure homeostasis and energy balance of both endothelial and retinal cells. Autophagy is an evol...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cells (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-01, Vol.10 (1), p.177
Main Authors: Pesce, Noemi Anna, Canovai, Alessio, Lardner, Emma, Cammalleri, Maurizio, Kvanta, Anders, André, Helder, Dal Monte, Massimo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Angiogenesis
Autophagy
Cell proliferation
development
Developmental stages
Endothelial cells
Energy balance
Environmental changes
eye
Homeostasis
Hypoxia
Kinases
Laboratories
Membranes
Metabolism
Phagocytosis
Physiology
Proteins
Retina
Vascular endothelial growth factor
Vascularization
Western blotting
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:During retinal development, a physiologic hypoxia stimulates endothelial cell proliferation. The hypoxic milieu warrants retina vascularization and promotes the activation of several mechanisms aimed to ensure homeostasis and energy balance of both endothelial and retinal cells. Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved catabolic system that contributes to cellular adaptation to a variety of environmental changes and stresses. In association with the physiologic hypoxia, autophagy plays a crucial role during development. Autophagy expression profile was evaluated in the developing retina from birth to post-natal day 18 of rat pups, using qPCR, western blotting and immunostaining methodologies. The rat post-partum developing retina displayed increased active autophagy during the first postnatal days, correlating to the hypoxic phase. In latter stages of development, rat retinal autophagy decreases, reaching a normalization between post-natal days 14-18, when the retina is fully vascularized and mature. Collectively, the present study elaborates on the link between hypoxia and autophagy, and contributes to further elucidate the role of autophagy during retinal development.
ISSN:2073-4409
2073-4409
DOI:10.3390/cells10010177