TY - JOUR
T1 - Expression of LIM-homeodomain transcription factors in the developing and mature mouse retina
AU - Balasubramanian, Revathi
AU - Bui, Andrew
AU - Ding, Qian
AU - Gan, Lin
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Dr. Heiner Westphal of National Institute of Health for the Lhx6 in situ hybridization probe. We are also grateful to Dr. Samuel Pfaff of Salk Institute and Dr. Jane Dodd of Columbia University for kindly sharing LHX3 and LHX4, and LHX9 antibodies, respectively. We also thank the other members of the Gan laboratory for helpful discussions and technical assistance. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant 1R21EY023104 and a Research to Prevent Blindness Senior Scientific Investigator Award to L.G., the NYSTEM pre-doctoral training grant NYS DOH C026877 to R.B. as well as by a Research to Prevent Blindness Challenge Grant to the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Rochester.
PY - 2014/1
Y1 - 2014/1
N2 - LIM-homeodomain (LIM-HD) transcription factors have been extensively studied for their role in the development of the central nervous system. Their function is key to several developmental events like cell proliferation, differentiation and subtype specification. However, their roles in retinal neurogenesis remain largely unknown. Here we report a detailed expression study of LIM-HD transcription factors LHX9 and LHX2, LHX3 and LHX4, and LHX6 in the developing and mature mouse retina using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization techniques. We show that LHX9 is expressed during the early stages of development in the retinal ganglion cell layer and the inner nuclear layer. We also show that LHX9 is expressed in a subset of amacrine cells in the adult retina. LHX2 is known to be expressed in retinal progenitor cells during development and in Müller glial cells and a subset of amacrine cells in the adult retina. We found that the LHX2 subset of amacrine cells is not cholinergic and that a very few of LHX2 amacrine cells express calretinin. LHX3 and LHX4 are expressed in a subset of bipolar cells in the adult retina. LHX6 is expressed in cells in the ganglion cell layer and the neuroblast layer starting at embryonic stage 13.5 (E13.5) and continues to be expressed in cells in the ganglion cell layer and inner nuclear layer, postnatally, suggesting its likely expression in amacrine cells or a subset thereof. Taken together, our comprehensive assay of expression patterns of LIM-HD transcription factors during mouse retinal development will help further studies elucidating their biological functions in the differentiation of retinal cell subtypes.
AB - LIM-homeodomain (LIM-HD) transcription factors have been extensively studied for their role in the development of the central nervous system. Their function is key to several developmental events like cell proliferation, differentiation and subtype specification. However, their roles in retinal neurogenesis remain largely unknown. Here we report a detailed expression study of LIM-HD transcription factors LHX9 and LHX2, LHX3 and LHX4, and LHX6 in the developing and mature mouse retina using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization techniques. We show that LHX9 is expressed during the early stages of development in the retinal ganglion cell layer and the inner nuclear layer. We also show that LHX9 is expressed in a subset of amacrine cells in the adult retina. LHX2 is known to be expressed in retinal progenitor cells during development and in Müller glial cells and a subset of amacrine cells in the adult retina. We found that the LHX2 subset of amacrine cells is not cholinergic and that a very few of LHX2 amacrine cells express calretinin. LHX3 and LHX4 are expressed in a subset of bipolar cells in the adult retina. LHX6 is expressed in cells in the ganglion cell layer and the neuroblast layer starting at embryonic stage 13.5 (E13.5) and continues to be expressed in cells in the ganglion cell layer and inner nuclear layer, postnatally, suggesting its likely expression in amacrine cells or a subset thereof. Taken together, our comprehensive assay of expression patterns of LIM-HD transcription factors during mouse retinal development will help further studies elucidating their biological functions in the differentiation of retinal cell subtypes.
KW - LIM-homeodomain
KW - Lhx genes
KW - Retinal development
KW - Retinogenesis
KW - Transcription factors
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U2 - 10.1016/j.gep.2013.12.001
DO - 10.1016/j.gep.2013.12.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 24333658
AN - SCOPUS:84891607873
SN - 1567-133X
VL - 14
SP - 1
EP - 8
JO - Brain research. Gene expression patterns
JF - Brain research. Gene expression patterns
IS - 1
ER -