A role for retinal waves in vascular development

About This Grant

Understanding the signaling between neurons, glial cells, and blood vessels during development is crucial for designing treatments for vasculature defects, such as the over-vascularization associated with retinopathy of prematurity. The proposal aims to determine the role of neural-glial-vascular signaling in vasculature development through two main objectives: Aim 1: Use quantitative approaches to characterize the vasculature development and to assess how this process is altered in mice with altered retinal waves. We also propose to use live imaging of vasculature growth to assess the nature of dividing vessel maturation. Aim 2: Establish the maturation of the glial-vascular unit using two approaches. First, we will use immunofluorescence to assess when the glial-vascular interface arises during development. Second, we will use two-photon calcium imaging to monitor the spontaneous calcium transients in glial processes associated with vasculature and establish their correlation with retinal waves. This research will enable the lab to test novel hypotheses regarding the role of signaling in vasculature development, which is critical for understanding how neural activity influences normal and pathological vasculature development.