Ophthalmology Commons^™

Ocular Gene Transfer In The Spotlight: Implications Of Newspaper Content For Clinical Communications, Shelly Benjaminy, Tania M. Bubela

Office of the Provost

Background: Ocular gene transfer clinical trials are raising hopes for blindness treatments and attracting media attention. News media provide an accessible health information source for patients and the public, but are often criticized for overemphasizing benefits and underplaying risks of novel biomedical interventions. Overly optimistic portrayals of unproven interventions may influence public and patient expectations; the latter may cause patients to downplay risks and over-emphasize benefits, with implications for informed consent for clinical trials. We analyze the news media communications landscape about ocular gene transfer and make recommendations for improving communications between clinicians and potential trial participants in light of …

Review: Zinc’S Functional Significance In The Vertebrate Retina, Harris Ripps, Richard L. Chappell

Publications and Research

This review covers a broad range of topics related to the actions of zinc on the cells of the vertebrate retina. Much of this review relies on studies in which zinc was applied exogenously, and therefore the results, albeit highly suggestive, lack physiologic significance. This view stems from the fact that the concentrations of zinc used in these studies may not be encountered under the normal circumstances of life. This caveat is due to the lack of a zinc-specific probe with which to measure the concentrations of Zn2+ that may be released from neurons or act upon them. However, a …

Sox11 Is Required To Maintain Proper Levels Of Hedgehog Signaling During Vertebrate Ocular Morphogenesis, Lakshmi Pillai-Kastoori, Wen Wen, Stephen G. Wilson, Erin Strachan, Adriana Lo-Castro, Marco Fichera, Sebastiano A. Musumeci, Ordan J. Lehmann, Ann C. Morris

Biology Faculty Publications

Ocular coloboma is a sight-threatening malformation caused by failure of the choroid fissure to close during morphogenesis of the eye, and is frequently associated with additional anomalies, including microphthalmia and cataracts. Although Hedgehog signaling is known to play a critical role in choroid fissure closure, genetic regulation of this pathway remains poorly understood. Here, we show that the transcription factor Sox11 is required to maintain specific levels of Hedgehog signaling during ocular development. Sox11-deficient zebrafish embryos displayed delayed and abnormal lens formation, coloboma, and a specific reduction in rod photoreceptors, all of which could be rescued by treatment with the …

Accumulation Of Rhodopsin In Late Endosomes Triggers Photoreceptor Cell Degeneration, Yashodhan Chinchore, Amitavo Mitra, Patrick J. Dolph, Norbert Perrimon

Dartmouth Scholarship

Progressive retinal degeneration is the underlying feature of many human retinal dystrophies. Previous work using Drosophila as a model system and analysis of specific mutations in human rhodopsin have uncovered a connection between rhodopsin endocytosis and retinal degeneration. In these mutants, rhodopsin and its regulatory protein arrestin form stable complexes, and endocytosis of these complexes causes photoreceptor cell death. In this study we show that the internalized rhodopsin is not degraded in the lysosome but instead accumulates in the late endosomes. Using mutants that are defective in late endosome to lysosome trafficking, we were able to show that rhodopsin accumulates …

Longitudinal Changes In Visual Acuity In Keratoconus, Larry J. Davis, Kenneth B. Schechtman, Brad S. Wilson, Carol E. Rosenstiel, Colleen H. Riley, David P. Libassi, Ralph E. Gundel, Louis Rosenberg, Mae O. Gordon, Karla Zadnik

Larry Davis