Apoptosis of retinal photoreceptors during development in vitro: Protective effect of docosahexaenoic acid

ROTSTEIN, N.P.; AVELDAÑO, M.I.; BARRANTES, F.J.; ROCCAMO, A.M.; POLITI, L.E.

JOURNAL OF NEUROCHEMISTRY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 1997 vol. 69 p. 504 - 513

0022-3042

When rat retinal cells are cultured in a serumfree medium, the photoreceptor cells start dying after 7 days. The addition of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) to the cultures prevents the selective death of photoreceptors. Here it is shown that, unlike other retinal neurons, photoreceptors die through an apoptotic pathway. Hallmarks of apoptosis, such as nuclear fragmentation and condensationand DNA cleavage forming a ladder pattern on an agarose gel, were observed.The timing and high selectivity of the triggering of photoreceptor cell apoptosis suggest the existence of a programmed cell death. Compared with other fatty acids, DHA not only was the mosteffective in promoting photoreceptor survival, but also the only one to decrease the number of apoptotic nuclei. The results suggest that DHA is important among the factors preventing apoptosis of photoreceptors in the developing retina. A limitation in the availability of this fattyacid might trigger apoptosis as a result of the failure to develop functional photoreceptor outer segments.