Regeneration-Associated Genes on Optic Nerve Regeneration in Fish Retina

Abstract

It has been well documented that fish central nervous system, including retina and optic nerve, can regenerate and recover its function after nerve injury. Within a few decades, a number of regeneration-associated genes (RAGs) have been identified in fish retina following optic nerve injury (ONI). RAGs can be classified into two groups: cell survival- and axonal outgrowth-related genes. In fish retina after ONI, cell survival-related genes were upregulated in 1-6 days after ONI, which corresponds to the preparation stage for cell survival and axonal sprouting. Subsequently, axonal outgrowth-related genes were upregulated in 1-6 weeks after ONI, which corresponds to the axonal regrowth stage. Recently, we've found a novel type of RAGs, dedifferentiation-related genes, that are upregulated in overlapping time between cell survival and axonal regrowth (3-10 days after ONI). In this chapter we summarize these three types of RAGs that promote optic nerve regeneration in the fish retina after ONI.

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“…Examples are heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) [201,222], neuroglobin [223,224] and semaphorin-3A [225,226]. Of course, there are more differentially expressed molecules in fish and rodents after ONI than cited here, as described by Ogai et al [227]. However, we choose to only quote findings occurring very rapidly after injury, since the molecular events underlying neuroprotection and neuroregeneration can no longer be separated after a few days.…”