PMID: 3771138Nov 1, 1986Paper

Histochemical demonstration of spatial heterogeneity in the interphotoreceptor matrix of the rat retina

Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science
K Porrello, M M LaVail

Abstract

The interphotoreceptor matrix (IPM) is a mixture of acidic mucosubstances, which can be demonstrated histochemically with cationic dyes, such as Alcian blue, and metal precipitates, such as colloidal iron. In the normal rat retina, staining of the IPM with these reagents is found predominantly at the apical surface of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and, to a lesser extent, at the junction of the photoreceptor inner and outer segments (basal IS/OS zone). The authors have attempted to characterize the IPM in these two regions using histochemical staining of wax-embedded sections. Prior to staining, the following chemical treatments or enzymatic digestions were performed: neuraminidase (NA), with or without prior deacetylation, mild acid hydrolysis (MAH), testicular hyaluronidase (TH), Streptomyces hyaluronidase (SH), and chondroitinase AC (ChAC). NA alone, deacetylation/NA, and MAH all result in great reduction or total loss of stainable IPM at the RPE apical surface, and only slight or no reduction of stainable IPM in the basal IS/OS zone. Since these procedures remove sialoglycoconjugates, the findings suggest that the IPM concentrated at the apical surface of the RPE is composed in large part of sialoglycoconjugates, tha...Continue Reading

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