Neuronal - Müller glial signaling during development
Astroglia exhibit a diversity of form and function which enables them to guide wiring and signaling throughout the central nervous system; their proper morphology and physiology are critical for developmental steps ranging from neural cell proliferation and differentiation to synaptogenesis and synaptic refinement, and in mature circuits they regulate synaptic function via mechanisms that are under active study. Müller glia are the predominant astroglial type of the retina. We are interested in exploring neuron-glial communication during development and what role this communication might play in development. Currently we are focusing on how neuron-glial signaling might influence the development of retinal vasculature.
Muller glial cell development during retinal waves: green: Müller glia, pink: Bipolar cells and photoreceptor terminals (Vglut1); gray: DAPI. Image Georgeann Sack.
Imaging of motility of individual glial stalks: see J. Tworig, C. Coate and M. B. Feller (2021) Excitatory neurotransmission activates compartmentalized calcium transients in Muller glia without affecting lateral process motility, Elife, 10: e73202
Example traces of fractional change in fluorescence of GCaMP6f-expressing Müller glia showing wave-associated calcium transients in stalks (blue) and processes (yellow) and wave-associated EPSCs recorded from an RGC (black). From J. Tworig, C. Coate and M. B. Feller (2021) , eLife. Also see J. M. Rosa*, R. Bos*, C. Fortuny, A. Agarwal, D. E. Bergles, J. G. Flannery, G. S. Sack, M. B. Feller (2015), Neuron-glia signaling in developing retina mediated by neurotransmitter spillover, eLife, 4. doi: 10.7554/eLife.09590. (*equal contributions)
Summary of Müller glial responses to cholinergic and glutamatergic retinal waves. From J. Tworig and M. B. Feller (2022), "Müller glia in retinal development: from specification to circuit integration", Frontiers in Neuroscience, 15:815923 . Also see J. M. Rosa*, R. Bos*, C. Fortuny, A. Agarwal, D. E. Bergles, J. G. Flannery, G. S. Sack, M. B. Feller (2015), Neuron-glia signaling in developing retina mediated by neurotransmitter spillover, Elife, 4. doi: 10.7554/eLife.09590. (*equal contributions)