Athera Yakoo
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Research Mentor(s): Lev Prasov
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences; Human Genetics / Medicine
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Oral10RS
Session: Session 2 – 11am – 11:50am
Room: Vandenberg
Authors: Lev Prasov, Michelle Brinkmeier
Presenter: 1
Abstract
The retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) is a supportive epithelial cell layer that helps to nourish the retina and recycle photopigment. Myrf is a critical transcription factor expressed at high levels in the RPE. In prior experiments, loss of Myrf in the early mouse eye caused disorganization and dysfunction of the RPE, leading to rod and cone photoreceptor degeneration and impaired vision (Garnai et al., 2019). The current study aims to determine whether there is increased cell death in the RPE during development in Myrf knockout mice, and the dynamics of photoreceptor and progenitor development. To do this, we tested the impact of loss of MYRF on Otx2 expression in mice during various stages of embryonic and postnatal development and evaluated cell death using Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). Otx2 is a transcription factor expressed in the RPE and retinal progenitor cells (RPC), as well as maturing photoreceptors. Loss of Otx2 in mice impairs the specification of retinal photoreceptors (Nishida etal, 2003). Slides from three controls, three hets, and five mutants from embryonic day 14.5 mice were immunostained for Otx2 and labeled with TUNEL. Otx2 and TUNEL positive cells within the retinal and retinal pigment epithelial layers were subsequently counted using an automated algorithm in ImageJ. We have observed a qualitative increase in cell death within Otx2+ RPE cells and quantitative analysis of Otx2+ photoreceptors is in progress. Our work will help uncover the role of Myrf in RPE and retinal development and survival giving us a better understanding of disorders that lead to retinal degeneration.
Biomedical Sciences
