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How neurons build a 3-D vascular structure to keep the retina healthy
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<span>How neurons build a 3-D vascular structure to keep the retina healthy</span>
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Understanding how intricate networks of blood vessels in the eye and brain are formed could inspire new treatments for conditions like diabetic retinopathy and stroke
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May 23, 2024
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<p>Scientists have known for years that a lattice of blood vessels nourishes cells in the retina that allow us to see – but it’s been a mystery how the intricate structure is created.</p><p>Now, researchers at UC San Francisco have found a new type of neuron that guides its formation.</p><p>The discovery, described in the May 23, 2024, issue of <em>Cell</em>, could one day lead to new therapies for diseases that are related to impaired blood flow in the eyes and brain.</p><p>The researchers worked with newborn mice, whose eyes still need several weeks to develop fully. They labeled the retinal neurons closest to the blood vessels with a protein that glows green under ultraviolet light so he could observe the lattice as it was forming.</p><p>The team then identified a subset of neurons, called perivascular neurons, which contact and then surround growing blood vessels, directing them to form the lattice. These perivascular neurons produce a protein called PIEZO2 that enables them to sense when they are touching another cell.</p><p>Perivascular neurons in mice that were unable to produce PIEZO2 could not maintain contact with blood vessels, and they grew in a tangled, disorganized way that disrupted blood flow.</p><p>Starved for oxygen, the surrounding nerve cells degraded, and the mice were more vulnerable to stroke-like injuries.</p><p>The scientists believe damage to the blood vessel lattice may play a role in neurodegenerative diseases.</p>
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<a href="https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2024/05/427661/how-neurons-build-3-d-vascular-structure-keep-retina-healthy" class="c-link__link">Read more at University of California San Francisco News</a>
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