Scientists Discover a Role for the Growth Factor TGF-beta in Maintaining Health of Retinal Blo...(F-beta as a protein that results from th...),Health

To do that, they injected mice with a virus that produces large quantities of soluble endoglin, a protein that would circulate, and then bind to and inhibit TGF-beta. When they examined the retinas of treated mice, the team found clear evidence that retinal blood vessels were losing their integrity -- blood was not moving efficiently through the smaller vessels into the retina tissue, and fluid was leaking out of the vessels, which does not happen when the vessels are functioning properly. These defects led to the death of ganglion cells (nerve cells in the innermost part of the retina) and a loss of visual function.

According to D'Amore and Walshe, the demonstration of the role played by TGF-beta is one more piece of a very complex set of controls that keeps blood vessels and the retina healthy.

Future studies are aimed at exploring what other molecules are involved in maintaining healthy blood vessels and how these relate to the development of microvascular diseases.

Other authors of the study include: Magali Saint-Geniez, Arindel SR Maharaj, Eiichi Sekiyama & Angel E. Maldonado, also of the Schepens Eye Research Institute.

To review the article, go to: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0005149

Schepens Eye Research institute is an affiliate of Harvard Medical School and the largest independent eye research institute in the nation. For additional information about the Institute, go
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