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AAV-mediated expression of proneural factors stimulates neurogenesis from adult Müller glia in vivo.

ABSTRACT: The lack of regeneration in the human central nervous system (CNS) has major health implications. To address this, we previously used transgenic mouse models to show that neurogenesis can be stimulated in the adult mammalian retina by driving regeneration programs that other species activate following injury. Expression of specific proneural factors in adult Müller glia causes them to re-enter the cell cycle and give rise to new neurons following retinal injury. To bring this strategy closer to clinical application, we now show that neurogenesis can also be stimulated when delivering these transcription factors to Müller glia using adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors. AAV-mediated neurogenesis phenocopies the neurogenesis we observed from transgenic animals, with different proneural factor combinations giving rise to distinct neuronal subtypes in vivo. Vector-borne neurons are morphologically, transcriptomically and physiologically similar to bipolar and amacrine/ganglion-like neurons. These results represent a key step forward in developing a cellular reprogramming approach for regenerative medicine in the CNS.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE285980 | GEO | 2025/01/07

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Loss of neurons in the neural retina is a leading cause of vision loss. Retinal regeneration in zebrafish is attributed to Müller glia, which are activated, adopt a stem cell-like state, proliferate, and generate new neurons. Despite the same endogenous Müller glia being present in all vertebrates including humans, Müller glia activation in mammals leads to glial scarring instead of neurogenesis. Therefore, understanding Müller glia cellular states and molecular processes during zebrafish regeneration may allow us to improve mammalian regeneration. Since only a subset of Müller glia activate following neuron loss, we asked whether a specialised subset of Müller glia might be genetically primed for activation. Single-cell RNA sequencing (sc-RNAseq) from integrated zebrafish Müller glia samples reveals heterogeneity of gene expression across the quiescent Müller glia pool with 4 main clusters emerging, two of which are genetically similar. Labelling for key differentially expressed markers identified that these main clusters correlated with glia spatially distributed across dorsal, central and ventral retina. Using a genetically driven, chemically induced nitroreductase approach, three distinct photoreceptor types were ablated: the long (Lws2), short wavelength-sensitive (Sws2) and rod (Xops) photoreceptors, which also differ in their abundance. As expected, histological analysis of the three injuries and sc-RNAseq data for the two cone photoreceptor ablations identified common genetic program involved in the transition of Müller glia quiescence to activation, and differential responses to injury related to either injury extent or subtype of photoreceptor targeted. Interestingly, despite differences in the distributed across the retina, biased activation of Müller glia was observed in dorsal and central regions. Gene ontology analysis revealed that these injury-responsive dorsal and central Müller glia express genes related to dorsal/ventral pattern formation, growth factor activity, and regulation of developmental process. Müller glia upregulated genes related to homeostasis as well as certain AP-1 and injury-responsive transcription factors, followed by expression of genes involved in cell cycle, chromatin remodeling, and microtubule organisation. Prior to cell cycle entry, Müller glia show a transient upregulation of genes involved in gliogenesis, and Notch signalling. These findings enhance our understanding of heterogeneous states of quiescent Müller glia, and how these differences relate to activation and regeneration potential following neural ablation. A comparison of the distinct quiescent Müller glia with glia states in mammals will reveal key molecular pathways that could be targeted for improved mammalian neural regeneration.

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AAV-mediated expression of proneural factors stimulates neurogenesis from adult Müller glia in vivo.

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