The advance of endogenous neural stem cell features for retinal Müller cell

Abstract

Neural stem cell is a kind of stem cells that can differentiate into neural and glial cells. While Muller cells, the main endogenous neural stem cell in retina,have the features to reentry into the cell cycle and differentiate into neural cells after retinal damage. Although it is highly effective for retinal Muller cell differentiation spontaneously after retinal injury in vertebrates, this feature is rigorous restricted in mammals. Recently, some transcription factors,such as Ascl1, Sox2, Lin28, Atoh7, are sufficient to drive quiescent Muller cells back in proliferation to generate new retinal neurons. Moreover, combining Ascl1 expression with a histone deacetylase inhibitor can bypass the limitation and increase the generation of new neurons in the adult retina. These regenerated neurons integrate the existing neuronal network and are able to respond to light, indicating that they can likely be used to restore vision. While these results are extremely promising, the regenerative response is still limited, likely because the proliferative capacity of mammalian Muller cells is low compared to their zebrafish counterparts. It is indeed necessary to identify new factors increasing the efficiency of the regenerative response. Key words: Neural stem cell; Microglia; Review; Muller cells