Neuronal-Glial Interactions in Retina Development

The development of embryonic retinoblasts into phenotypicallymature Müller glial cells has been shown to be dependenton close juxtapositional relationships between heterotypicellsof the retina. In this report, I review experiments in whichwe have attempted to examine the role of actual cell contactin the regulation of biochemical differentiation of retinalglial cells. Probes which bind to cell surface components includingantibodies to the retina cell membrane and plant lectins weretested for their ability to interfere with normal histogenesisand glial maturation in a reaggregation-basedin vitro developmentassay. Data are discussed which show that antibodies to thecell surface and the succinylated derivative of the plant lectinconcanavalin A can markedly impair both histogenesis and glialmaturation potential if introduced into cultures of reaggregatingdissociated embryonic retina cells. Preliminary analyses ofmembrane components which react with the lectin have been performed.The results suggest that certain specific membrane glycopeptidesare expressed by dissociated retina cells in an age-dependentmanner. Also, the results show that decline in the ability ofthe embryonic cells to elaborate these surface components correlateswith the capacity of the cells toreform developmentally regulatoryneuronal-glial communication "linkages"