College

Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences (BCAS)

Date of Last Revision

2023-05-03 18:36:36

Major

Biology

Honors Course

3100:499:002

Number of Credits

2

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Date of Expected Graduation

Fall 2019

Abstract

An M1 melanopsin retinal ganglion cell (mRGC) is a subtype of the five melanopsin ganglion cells. The M1-type mRGC is distributed on the dorsal retina of a mouse and has an extensively overlapping dendritic network in both the sublamina a (OFF) and sublamina b (ON) layers of the inner plexiform layer. In the dorsal retina, the M1-type mRGCs are distinct and asymmetric.

The aim of this study was to examine the morphological similarity (shape and size) of M1-type mRGCs. The study traced 20 neurons in the first four months of a glaucoma retina of a DBA mouse, made measurements of the particular 20 neurons, and measured statistical interdependence between the 20 neurons in the first four-month old glaucoma retina of the DBA mouse using contemporary morphological data mean (Xiao-Sha et al., 2019).

It determined the morphological similarities (soma size, total dendritic length, dendritic field size, dendritic field diameter, and the number of branch points) of the 20 neurons using 2-D morphology tracing in ImageJ, of z stacks of confocal images from a triple labeled immunohistochemically stained four-month old glaucoma retina of the DBA mouse. This research also analyzed the morphological shapes of the 20 neurons, in the first four-month old glaucoma retina of the DBA mouse, using blender edited 3D prints. The ImageJ traces of the 20 neurons in the first four-month old glaucoma retina of the DBA mouse having M1-type mRGCs ramified within the ganglion cell layer. In the dorsal retina, the M1-type mRGCs are distinct and distributed asymmetry. The 20 neurons in the first four-month old glaucoma retina of the DBA mouse had size and shape conventional to the M1-type mRGCs. All the measured morphological data (soma size, total dendritic length, dendritic field size, dendritic field diameter, and the number of branch points) resulted in p- values (0.6124 for soma size, 0.6396 for total dendritic length, 0.0778 for dendritic field size, 0.2599 dendritic field diameter, 0.3175 for the number of branches) above the set significance level ( α = 0.05). The statistical graphs showed the similarity in size and shape of the morphological data (soma size, total dendritic length, dendritic field size, dendritic field diameter, and the number of branch points) across the 20 neurons of the first four-month old glaucoma retina of the DBA mouse.

The findings of this research brings additional support to the existing findings of the morphological similarities within specific mRGCs subtypes (Ecker et al., 2010; Berson, Castrucci & Provencio, 2010).

Research Sponsor

Dr. Jordan Renna

First Reader

Dr. Brian Bagatto

Second Reader

Dr. Quin Liu

Honors Faculty Advisor

Dr. Brian Bagatto

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