BMP- and TGFβ-signaling regulate the formation of Müller glia-derived progenitor cells in the avian retina

Müller glia-derived progenitor cells (MGPCs) have the capability to regenerate neurons in the retinas of different vertebrate orders. The formation of MGPCs is regulated by a network of cell-signaling pathways. The purpose of this study was to investigate how BMP/Smad1/5/8- and TGFβ/Smad2/3-signaling are coordinated to influence the formation of MGPCs in the chick model system. We find that pSmad1/5/8 is selectively up-regulated in the nuclei of Müller glia following treatment with BMP4, FGF2, or NMDA-induced damage, and this up-regulation is blocked by a dorsomorphin analogue DMH1. By comparison, Smad2/3 is found in the nuclei of Müller glia in untreated retinas, and becomes localized to the cytoplasm following NMDA- or FGF2-treatment. These findings suggest a decrease in TGFβ- and increase in BMP-signaling when MGPCs are known to form. In both NMDA-damaged and FGF2-treated retinas, inhibition of BMP-signaling suppressed the proliferation of MGPCs, whereas inhibition of TGFβ-signaling stimulated the proliferation of MGPCs. Consistent with these findings, TGFβ2 suppressed the formation of MGPCs in NMDA-damaged retinas. Our findings indicate that BMP/TGFβ/Smad-signaling is recruited into the network of signaling pathways that controls the formation of proliferating MGPCs. We conclude that signaling through BMP4/Smad1/5/8 promotes the formation of MGPCs, whereas signaling through TGFβ/Smad2/3 suppresses the formation of MGPCs.

A Survey of Retinal Remodeling

Up to 15 years ago, bibliographic searches based on keywords such as “photoreceptor degeneration, inner retina” or “photoreceptor degeneration, second order neurons” returned only a handful of papers, as the field was dominated by the general assumption that retinal degeneration had direct effects on the sole populations of rods and cones. Since then, a number of studies have been dedicated to understanding the process of gradual morphological, molecular, and functional changes arising among cells located in the inner retina (comprising neurons, glia, and blood vessels), that is to say “beyond” photoreceptors. General aspects of this progression of biological rearrangements, now referred to as “remodeling”, were revealed and demonstrated to accompany consistently photoreceptor loss, independently from the underlying cause of degeneration. Recurrent features of remodeling are summarized here, to provide a general frame for to the various analytical descriptions and reviews contributed by the articles in the issue (among others, see Euler and Schubert, 2015; Soto and Kerschensteiner, 2015, this issue).