Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience (Mar 2024)

Platelet-activating factor receptor (PAFR) regulates neuronal maturation and synaptic transmission during postnatal retinal development

  • Barbara Dalmaso,
  • Andre Mauricio Passos Liber,
  • Andre Mauricio Passos Liber,
  • Dora Fix Ventura,
  • Sonia Jancar,
  • Carolina Beltrame Del Debbio

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2024.1343745
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 18

Abstract

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IntroductionPlatelet-activating factor (PAF), PAF receptor (PAFR), and PAF- synthesis/degradation systems are involved in essential CNS processes such as neuroblast proliferation, differentiation, migration, and synaptic modulation. The retina is an important central nervous system (CNS) tissue for visual information processing. During retinal development, the balance between Retinal Progenitor Cell (RPC) proliferation and differentiation is crucial for proper cell determination and retinogenesis. Despite its importance in retinal development, the effects of PAFR deletion on RPC dynamics are still unknown.MethodsWe compared PAFR knockout mice (PAFR−/−) retinal postnatal development proliferation and differentiation aspects with control animals. Electrophysiological responses were analyzed by electroretinography (ERG).Results and discussionIn this study, we demonstrate that PAFR−/− mice increased proliferation during postnatal retinogenesis and altered the expression of specific differentiation markers. The retinas of postnatal PAFR−/− animals decreased neuronal differentiation and synaptic transmission markers, leading to differential responses to light stimuli measured by ERG. Our findings suggest that PAFR signaling plays a critical role in regulating postnatal RPC cell differentiation dynamics during retinal development, cell organization, and neuronal circuitry formation.

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