CELLULAR PHYSIOLOGY OF OCULAR EPITHELIA

本项目将研究的生理学和药理学 眼睛的单个上皮细胞。 重点将放在细胞的 睫状体，分泌水状体，和视网膜色素 上皮细胞，这是光感受器生存所必需的。 总体目标是了解神经和细胞的细胞行为 调节上皮细胞生理的激素信号， 包括分泌和吞噬作用。 迄今为止， 在细胞水平上对这些过程的信息，但由于 眼上皮细胞在人眼疾病中的中心作用， 包括青光眼和视网膜变性疾病， 这些细胞的基本生理学及其调节方式将至关重要 更好地理解和治疗眼部疾病。 拟议的研究将在单细胞上进行。 电气技术 将被用来测量跨膜离子电流，并确定如何 这些电流的调节控制分泌和吞噬作用 在眼上皮中。 细胞膜电容的变化将是 用于监测伴随胞吐作用的膜面积变化 和吞噬作用。 此外，荧光指示剂将用于 测量细胞内重要离子的变化，如钙离子。 的 电学和荧光测量可以结合在单个 细胞，提供强大的工具来回答问题的细胞 physiology. 在睫状体中，实验将提供信息 关于水状体的分泌是如何被调节的， 用于控制青光眼的药物的细胞作用。 在 视网膜色素上皮，一个主要的目标是了解细胞 导致光感受器外膜脱落尖端吞噬的事件 片段，在失明的动物模型中有缺陷的事件 是由遗传性视网膜退化引起的

This project will investigate the physiology and pharmacology of individual epithelial cells of the eye. The focus will be on cells of the ciliary body, which secretes the aqueous humor, and of the retinal pigment epithelium, which is necessary for the survival of the photoreceptors. The overall aim is to understand the cellular actions of neural and hormonal signals that regulate the physiology of the epithelial cells, including secretion and phagocytosis. To date, there is little information at the cellular level about these processes, but because of the central role of ocular epithelial cells in diseases of the human eye, including glaucoma and retinal degenerative disorders, an understanding of the basic physiology of these cells and how it is regulated will be vital to better understanding and treatment of ocular disease. The proposed studies will be done on single cells. Electrical techniques will be used to measure transmembrane ionic currents and to determine how the modulation of these currents controls both secretion and phagocytosis in ocular epithelial. Changes in cell membrane capacitance will be employed to monitor the changes in membrane area that accompany exocytosis and phagocytosis. In addition, fluorescent indicators will be used to measure changes in important intracellular ions, such as calcium. The electrical and fluorescence measurements can be combined within a single cell, providing powerful tools for answering questions of cellular physiology. In the ciliary body, the experiments will give information about how the secretion of the aqueous humor is regulated and thus shed light on the cellular actions of drugs used to control glaucoma. In the retinal pigment epithelium, a major goal is to understand the cellular events that lead to phagocytosis of the shed tips of photoreceptor outer segments, an event that is defective in an animal model of blindness caused by hereditary retinal degeneration.