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Retinal receptors control blood vessel growth
Issue date: 11/5/09
The eyes are a vital source of information about the environment for many animals, humans included. Thus, disorders affecting the eyes are especially detrimental for organisms, and studying such disorders is generally of a high interest for scientists like Jeremy Nathans, Xin Ye, and their colleagues at the Hopkins School of Medicine.
In particular, they are extremely interested in how certain ocular disorders - like diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity - take their courses. These two diseases are characterized by damage to the blood vessels as a result of either bursting blood vessels or the development of new, improper vessels in the retina that cause vision problems and damage.
Furthermore, defects in the retina and retinal blood vessels can be seen in premature newborns, where it can even progress to the point at which these blood vessels cause the retina to become detached from the eye. Both can be very serious and can even cause blindness, but the exact causes of retinopathies have not always been precisely understood, though there are several theories on the contributing factors.
Nathans and his research team have continued the task of exploring these leads, which include the possibility of interrupted cellular signaling as the root cause of some retinopathies. In a new study published in the journal Cell in mid-October, Nathans and his colleagues verified the roles that the chemical Norrin, the Frizzled-4 (Fz-4) receptor, and the Lrp5 co-receptor play in such retinopathies.
According to their findings, in ocular disorders like diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity, the malfunctioning of any one of these three species can (and do) contribute to the improper growth of blood vessels, or vascularization, seen in these and other disorders.
The loss of the ability to produce the Norrin chemical results in the inability to activate the Fz-4 receptor. This is an important find because Frizzled-4 is a receptor that makes its home within specific pathways involved in maintaining and controlling vascular growth - and not just in the retina.
In particular, they are extremely interested in how certain ocular disorders - like diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity - take their courses. These two diseases are characterized by damage to the blood vessels as a result of either bursting blood vessels or the development of new, improper vessels in the retina that cause vision problems and damage.
Furthermore, defects in the retina and retinal blood vessels can be seen in premature newborns, where it can even progress to the point at which these blood vessels cause the retina to become detached from the eye. Both can be very serious and can even cause blindness, but the exact causes of retinopathies have not always been precisely understood, though there are several theories on the contributing factors.
Nathans and his research team have continued the task of exploring these leads, which include the possibility of interrupted cellular signaling as the root cause of some retinopathies. In a new study published in the journal Cell in mid-October, Nathans and his colleagues verified the roles that the chemical Norrin, the Frizzled-4 (Fz-4) receptor, and the Lrp5 co-receptor play in such retinopathies.
According to their findings, in ocular disorders like diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity, the malfunctioning of any one of these three species can (and do) contribute to the improper growth of blood vessels, or vascularization, seen in these and other disorders.
The loss of the ability to produce the Norrin chemical results in the inability to activate the Fz-4 receptor. This is an important find because Frizzled-4 is a receptor that makes its home within specific pathways involved in maintaining and controlling vascular growth - and not just in the retina.
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Peter Aleff
posted 11/06/09 @ 6:06 AM EST
The most logical cause for retinopathy of prematurity is simply the excess fluorescent nursery lighting which overwhelms the still developing and therefore extra vulnerable retinae of the preemies with a multiple of the blue-light-hazard dose that has been established as the danger limit for adult industrial workers. (Continued…)
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