title: Müller glia provide essential tensile strength to the developing retina.
abstract: To investigate the cellular basis of tissue integrity in a vertebrate central nervous system (CNS) tissue, we eliminated Müller glial cells (MG) from the zebrafish retina. For well over a century, glial cells have been ascribed a mechanical role in the support of neural tissues, yet this idea has not been specifically tested in vivo. We report here that retinas devoid of MG rip apart, a defect known as retinoschisis. Using atomic force microscopy, we show that retinas without MG have decreased resistance to tensile stress and are softer than controls. Laser ablation of MG processes showed that these cells are under tension in the tissue. Thus, we propose that MG act like springs that hold the neural retina together, finally confirming an active mechanical role of glial cells in the CNS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, England, UK.
authors.forename: Ryan B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: MacDonald
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, England, UK.
authors.forename: Owen
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Randlett
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, England, UK.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oswald
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Structure, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshimatsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, England, UK kf324@cam.ac.uk wah20@cam.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Kristian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Franze
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, England, UK kf324@cam.ac.uk wah20@cam.ac.uk.
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D063928:Ependymoglial Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000379:methods; D012160:Retina / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013718:Tensile Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology*