Effect of JIP1 knockout on retinal structure and synaptic protein expression in young mice

Abstract

Objective To investigate the role of JNK interacting protein 1 (JIP1) gene in retinal structure and synaptic protein expression in young mice. Methods Twelve JIP1 knockout (KO) mice (1 month old) were employed in this study. HE staining was used to observe the changes of retinal thickness in 1-month-old wild type C57 mice and JIP1-KO mice. Western blotting and immunohistochemical assay were used to detect the expression of retinal ganglion cells' markers neuronal class Ⅲ β-tubulin (TUJ1), neurofilament (NF), postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD95) and synaptophysin (SYN) in the 2 groups. Results The thicknesses of the whole retinal layer, the inner nuclear layer (INL) and the outer nuclear layer (ONL) of 1 month old wild type C57 mice were 119.60±11.70, 41.17±3.59 and 21.90±2.27 μm, respectively. And the thicknesses of the 3 layers of the JIP1-KO mice were 110.70±7.21, 36.83±2.26 and 20.15±1.89 μm, respectively. There were no statistical differences in the thickness of the corresponding layers between the 2 kinds of mice (P>0.05). Compared with the wild C57 mice, the expression levels of TUJ1, PSD95 and SYN in the retina of JIP1-KO mice had no significant difference (P>0.05). TUJ1 was located in the retinal ganglion cell layer, while NF, PSD95 and SYN were located in the outer plexiform layer (OPL). Conclusion JIP1 knockout shows no obvious effect on the development of the retina in mice aged 1 month

Keywords

• jip1
• retinal structure
• synaptic protein