Elsevier

Neuroscience Letters

Volume 246, Issue 1, 17 April 1998, Pages 53-56
Neuroscience Letters

Redistribution of glutathione in the ischemic rat retina

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3940(98)00229-8 Get rights and content

Abstract

We have studied the effect of ischemia on the cellular distribution of glutathione in the rat retina using immunocytochemical methods. Distinct degrees of ischemia were induced by varying the length of the post-mortem interval until fixation of the retina. In immediately fixed retinas, glutathione was confined exclusively to retinal Müller cells. In retinas fixed 5–10 min post-mortem, glutathione levels in Müller cells were reduced concomitant with incipient labeling in retinal neurons. Post-mortem intervals longer than 10 min resulted in strong labeling of neurons, particularly of retinal ganglion cells, whereas Müller cells were essentially devoid of immunoreactivity. Our data suggest transfer of glutathione from glia cells to neurons under ischemic conditions. Such a mechanism, utilizing the antioxidant properties of glutathione could be part of a glia-neuronal interaction contributing to the amelioration of oxidative stress and explain the high tolerance of the rat retina against ischemia/reperfusion injury.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by EY09074, Core Center Grant EY01876, the Bachman-Strauss Foundation for Dystonia and Parkinson's disease and an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness to the Department of Ophthalmology. Part of this work has been presented in abstract form (ARVO 1997).

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