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Brain-derived neurotrophic factor modulates the dopaminergic network in the rat retina after axotomy

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Abstract

Dopaminergic cells in the retina express the receptor for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is the neurotrophic factor that influences the plasticity of synapses in the central nervous system. We sought to determine whether BDNF influences the network of dopaminergic amacrine cells in the axotomized rat retina, by immunocytochemistry with an anti-tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) antiserum. In the control retina, we found two types of TH-immunoreactive amacrine cells, type I and type II, in the inner nuclear layer adjacent to the inner plexiform layer (IPL). The type I amacrine cell varicosities formed ring-like structures in contact with AII amacrine cell somata in stratum 1 of the IPL. In the axotomized retinas, TH-labeled processes formed loose networks of fibers, unlike the dense networks in the control retina, and the ring-like structures were disrupted. In the axotomized retinas treated with BDNF, strong TH-immunoreactive varicosities were present in stratum 1 of the IPL and formed ring-like structures. Our data suggest that BDNF affects the expression of TH immunoreactivity in the axotomized rat retina and may therefore influence the retinal dopaminergic system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 505 Banpo-dong, Socho-gu, Seoul, 137-701, South Korea

    Eun-Jin Lee, Myoung-Chul Song, Hyun-Ju Kim, Eun-Jin Lim, In-Beom Kim, Su-Ja Oh & Myung-Hoon Chun

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 505 Banpo-dong, Socho-gu, Seoul, 137-701, South Korea

    Jung-IL Moon

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  1. Eun-Jin Lee
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  2. Myoung-Chul Song
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Correspondence to Myung-Hoon Chun.

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E.-J. Lee and M.-C. Song contributed equally to this work.

This work was supported by Korea Research Foundation (grant no. E00004, 2004).

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Lee, EJ., Song, MC., Kim, HJ. et al. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor modulates the dopaminergic network in the rat retina after axotomy. Cell Tissue Res 322, 191–199 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-005-0025-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-005-0025-z

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