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Differential susceptibility of retinal ganglion cell subtypes against neurodegenerative diseases

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Abstract

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are essential to propagate external visual information from the retina to the brain. Death of RGCs is speculated to be closely correlated with blinding retinal diseases, such as glaucoma and traumatic optic neuropathy (TON). Emerging innovative technologies have helped refine and standardize the classification of RGCs; at present, they are classified into more than 40 subpopulations in mammals. These RGC subtypes are identified by a combination of anatomical morphologies, electrophysiological functions, and genetic profiles. Increasing evidence suggests that neurodegenerative diseases do not collectively affect the RGCs. In fact, which RGC subtype exhibits the strongest or weakest susceptibility is hotly debated. Although a consensus has not yet been reached, it is certain that assorted RGCs display differential susceptibility against irreversible degeneration. Interestingly, a single RGC subtype can exhibit various vulnerabilities to optic nerve damage in diverse injury models. Thus, elucidating how susceptible RGC subtypes are to various injuries can protect vulnerable RGCs from damage and improve the possibility of preventing and treating visual impairment caused by neurodegenerative diseases. In this review, we summarize in detail the progress and status quo of research on the type-specific susceptibility of RGCs and point out current limitations and the possible directions for future research in this field.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Provincial Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (Grant number 2020CFB240) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant number 2042020kf0065).

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  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

    Ningzhi Zhang, Xuejun He, Yiqiao Xing & Ning Yang

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  1. Ningzhi Zhang
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  2. Xuejun He
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  3. Yiqiao Xing
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  4. Ning Yang
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NZ and NY initiated this study and drafted the manuscript. NZ, XH, YX, and NY summarized all the relevant literature and wrote and edited the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript for publication.

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Correspondence to Ning Yang.

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Zhang, N., He, X., Xing, Y. et al. Differential susceptibility of retinal ganglion cell subtypes against neurodegenerative diseases. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 260, 1807–1821 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-022-05556-2

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