title: Synaptophysin expression in rat retina following acute high intraocular pressure.
abstract: In response to injury, synapse alteration may occur earlier than the changes in the cell body of neurons. Although retinal ganglion cell death and thinning of the inner part of retina were found after acute high intraocular pressure (HIOP), the structural and functional changes of synapses in the retina remain unknown. In the present study, we investigated the protein and mRNA expression of synaptophysin (SYN), an important molecule closely related to synaptic activities, synaptogenesis and synaptic plasticity. In addition, we also studied the ultrastructural changes of the retinal synapses. We found that (1) synaptophysin was upregulated transiently at both protein and mRNA level following HIOP; (2) broadened distribution of synaptophysin protein was present within the outer nuclear layer at the early stage following HIOP; (3) in the outer nuclear layer bouton-like vesicle-containing structures were observed by electron microscopy. This data suggested that, besides degeneration, synapses in rat retina may undergo regenerative events following HIOP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410013, China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dan
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jian-Bin
authors.forename: Wang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.forename: Zeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Le-Ping
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Huang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ju-Fang
authors.forename: Luo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xue-Gang