Ganglion cell layer

In addition to its presence in the RPE, ABCA1 has been found to be localized in the neural retina, particularly in the ganglion cell layer and rod photoreceptor inner segments (Tserentsoodol et al., 2006a), suggesting it may be involved in carotenoid transport throughout the retina. 

Figure 14.1 Schematic diagram of the blood-retinal barrier (BRB). The retinal cell layers seen histologically consist of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) photoreceptor outer segments (POS) outer limiting membrane (OLM) outer nuclear layer (ONL) outer plexiform layer (OPL) inner nuclear layer (INL) inner plexiform layer (IPL) ganglion cell layer (GCL) nerve fiber layer (NFL) inner limiting membrane (ILM).

Inner limiting membrane Ganglion cell layer Inner pi ex i form layer... 

Activation of calpain is usually associated with the progression of a necrotic type of cell death (Wang, 2000). However, neuronal necrosis and apoptosis occur in parallel after ischemic injury in vitro and in vivo (Charriaut-Marlangue et al., 1996). Retinal ischemia causes precocious necrosis of neurons in the ganglion cell layer (GCL) and INL, whereas apoptosis appears as the delayed component of neuronal death associated with transient retinal ischemia (Joo et al., 1999). 

In the rodent brain, D4 mRNA has a relatively restricted pattern of expression, being localized in the frontal cortex, in the olfactory bulb, hypothalamus and thalamus in the retina, D4 mRNA is expressed in the photoreceptor cell layer and in the inner nuclear and ganglion cell layers (Cohen et al., 1992 O Malley et al., 1992). 

Fig. 4 A TH labeled (dopaminergic) amacrine cell of the rat retina. Note that the receptor layer is on the top and the faintly visible ganglion cell layer is on the bottom (from Mytileneou and Bodis-WoUner, Department of Neurology, The Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, around 1978 unpublished data)...

EOF epidermal growth factor GCL ganglion cell layer... 

The ganglion cell layer (GCL) contains the cell bodies of retinal ganglion cells, with their axons running across the retinal surface (nerve fiber layer) toward the optic nerve head, and on through the optic nerve to the lateral geniculate nucleus in the mid-brain. The inner retinal blood supply (outside the foveal avascular zone), the nerve fiber layer, and a thin membrane (the inner limiting membrane) form the most superficial retinal structures. 

Chen S, Diamond JS. 2002. Synaptically released glutamate activates extrasynap-tic NMDA receptors on cells in the ganglion cell layer of rat retina. J. Neurosci. 22(6) 2165-73... 

Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) is the most common mitochondrial disease and the first linked to maternal inheritance through a mutation in the mtDNA. LHON is characterized by bilateral subacute loss of central vision caused by focal degeneration of the retinal ganglion cell layer and of the optic nerve. After initial symptoms, both eyes are usually affected within 6 months. Approximately 50% to 60% of males and only 8% to 32% of females who possess the mtDNA mutation will actually develop this optic neuropathy. Nuclear-encoded factors that affect mtDNA expression, mtDNA products, or mitochondrial metabolism may modify the phenotypic expression of LHON. Genetic coimseling in LHON is complicated in that the amount of mutant mtDNA transmitted by heteroplasmic females cannot be predicted, and testing cannot predict which individuals will develop visual symptoms. ... 

Thanos, S., Sick photoreceptors attract activated microglia from the ganglion cell layer. A model to study the inflammatory cascades in rats with inherited retinal dystrophy, Brain Res., 588, 21, 1992. 

Pearson, H. E., Payne, B. R., and Cunningham, T. J., Microglial invasion and activation in response to naturally occurring neuronal degeneration in the ganglion cell layer of the post-natal cat retina, Dev. Brain Res., 76, 249, 1993. 

The ganglion cell layer, which along with the retinal ganglion cells also contains amacrine cells so-called displaced amacrine cells. 

Allodi S, Cavalcante LA, Hokoc JN, Bernardes RF. 1992. Genesis of neurons of the retinal ganglion cell layer in the opossum. Anat Embryol (Berl) 185 489-499. 

Provis JM, Van Driel D, Billson FA, Russell P. 1985a. Development of the human retina Patterns of cell distribution and redistribution in the ganglion cell layer. J Comp Neurol 233 429-451. 

Kurokawa T, Katai N, Shibuki H, Kuroiwa S, Kurimoto Y, et al. 1999. BDNF diminishes caspase-2 but not c-Jun immunoreactivity of neurons in retinal ganglion cell layer after transient ischemia. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 40 3006-3011. 

In the rat retina, expression of mGluRl mRNA was observed with moderate intensity in the large majority of neurons in the ganglion cell layer, suggesting that both ganglion cells and a subset of amacrine cells expressed mGluRl mRNA moderate expression was also seen in some putative amacrine cells with cell bodies in the inner third of the inner nuclear layer (Hartveit et al., 1995). 

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