Retinal circuit disassembly, plasticity, and repair in glaucoma

Abstract

Precise connections between synaptic partners are shaped during development to ensure proper neural circuit function, but how these connections are disassembled and rearranged after injury is less well understood. In glaucoma, a neurodegenerative disease of the optic nerve, the ganglion cell is injured but very little is known about how the presynaptic circuitry is perturbed. Furthermore, the ability to diagnose and treat glaucoma at an optimal stage before irreversible retinal ganglion cell loss occurs requires a comprehensive understanding of inner retina circuit disassembly and plasticity. This lecture will provide insights into retinal circuit disassembly and plasticity, the role of microglia in synapse disassembly and the opportunities for retinal repair of inner retinal circuitry in glaucoma. These findings expand knowledge of how adult neural circuits react and rearrange in the face of injury and permit.The design of novel psychophysics testing paradigms and retinal ganglion cell regeneration or neuroprotection strategies.