title: Synapse Loss and Dendrite Remodeling in a Mouse Model of Glaucoma.
abstract: It has been hypothesized that synaptic pruning precedes retinal ganglion cell degeneration in glaucoma, causing early dysfunction to retinal ganglion cells. To begin to assess this, we studied the excitatory synaptic inputs to individual ganglion cells in normal mouse retinas and in retinas with ganglion cell degeneration from glaucoma (DBA/2J), or following an optic nerve crush. Excitatory synapses were labeled by AAV2-mediated transfection of ganglion cells with PSD-95-GFP. After both insults the linear density of synaptic inputs to ganglion cells decreased. In parallel, the dendritic arbors lost complexity. We did not observe any cells that had lost dendritic synaptic input while preserving a normal or near-normal morphology. Within the temporal limits of these observations, dendritic remodeling and synapse pruning thus appear to occur near-simultaneously.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, MA 02114, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ryan H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Berry
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, MA 02114, United States of America.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, ME, United States of America.|The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, ME, United States of America.|Department of Ophthalmology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Simon W M
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: John
authors.affiliation: The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, ME, United States of America.
authors.forename: Gareth R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Howell
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, MA 02114, United States of America.
authors.forename: Tatjana C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Jakobs
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003712:Dendrites / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D051379:Mice; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D013569:Synapses / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission