Role of glia in optic nerve

Meysam Yazdankhah, Peng Shang, Sayan Ghosh, Stacey Hose, Haitao Liu, Joseph Weiss, Christopher S. Fitting, Imran A. Bhutto, J. Samuel Zigler, Jiang Qian, José Alain Sahel, Debasish Sinha, Nadezda A. Stepicheva

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Glial cells are critically important for maintenance of neuronal activity in the central nervous system (CNS), including the optic nerve (ON). However, the ON has several unique characteristics, such as an extremely high myelination level of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons throughout the length of the nerve (with virtually all fibers myelinated by 7 months of age in humans), lack of synapses and very narrow geometry. Moreover, the optic nerve head (ONH) – a region where the RGC axons exit the eye – represents an interesting area that is morphologically distinct in different species. In many cases of multiple sclerosis (demyelinating disease of the CNS) vision problems are the first manifestation of the disease, suggesting that RGCs and/or glia in the ON are more sensitive to pathological conditions than cells in other parts of the CNS. Here, we summarize current knowledge on glial organization and function in the ON, focusing on glial support of RGCs. We cover both well-established concepts on the important role of glial cells in ON health and new findings, including novel insights into mechanisms of remyelination, microglia/NG2 cell-cell interaction, astrocyte reactivity and the regulation of reactive astrogliosis by mitochondrial fragmentation in microglia.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number100886
JournalProgress in Retinal and Eye Research
Volume81
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2021

Keywords

  • Astrocytes
  • Glia
  • Microglia
  • Neuron glial 2 (NG2) cells
  • Oligodendrocytes
  • Optic nerve (ON)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ophthalmology
  • Sensory Systems

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Role of glia in optic nerve'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this