PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ibad, Raoul Torero
AU  - Rheey, Jinguen
AU  - Mrejen, Sarah
AU  - Forster, Valérie
AU  - Picaud, Serge
AU  - Prochiantz, Alain
AU  - Moya, Kenneth L.
TI  - Otx2 Promotes the Survival of Damaged Adult Retinal Ganglion Cells and Protects against Excitotoxic Loss of Visual Acuity <em>In Vivo</em>
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0187-11.2011
DP  - 2011 Apr 06
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 5495--5503
VI  - 31
IP  - 14
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/14/5495.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/14/5495.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2011 Apr 06; 31
AB  - Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are the projection neurons from the eye to the brain and their loss results in visual impairment in a number of diseases. Transcription factors with a homeodomain can translocate between cells and, in at least one reported case, can stimulate neuronal survival. Otx2 is a homeoprotein transcription factor expressed in the retina that is taken up by RGCs. We thus hypothesized that Otx2 capture could regulate the survival of adult RGCs. We report that Otx2 stimulates the survival of adult mouse and rat RGCs in vitro and protects RGCs against NMDA-induced toxicity in vivo in mice. In the latter model, Otx2 also preserves visual acuity.