Objective To observe the regulation effect of transforming growth factor alpha (TGF alpha;) on expression of glutamate transporter（GLAST）and ingestion activity of retinal M uuml;ller cells in mice. Methods To take the retinal tissue of Kunming mouse at postnatal 7～10 day, and then cultured M uuml;ller cells according to literature. The 3～4 generation cultured cells of the same primary cell were divided into two groups at random: ① TGF alpha; group: maintained in different concentrations of TGF alpha; as 50, 75, 125 and 150 ng/ml, 3 holes in each concentration;② Control group: cultured by Eagle culture medium which improved from Dulbeccon and contained 20% fetal calf serum. The influence of different concentrations TGF alpha; on GLAST activity in M uuml;ller cells were observed by L-3H-glutamate uptake detection; the expression of GLAST mRNA in M uuml;ller cells was determined by RT-PCR; the expression of GLAST protein was detected with immunocytochemical staining. Results With the increase of TGF alpha; concentration, both L3H glutamate uptake and GLAST mRNA expression were increased. The L-3H-glutamate accumulation had got to the maximum uptake at concentration of 125 ng/ml, which was 266% of that in control group, meanwhile, the expressions of GLAST mRNA also got to the maximum as 4 times of control group. Immunocytochemical staining indicated that the effect of 125ng/ml TGF alpha; on expression of GLAST protein was higher than that in the control group, the differences between two groups were statistically significant (P lt;0.05). Conclusion TGF- alpha; can increase GLAST activity through up-regulating the expression of GLAST mRNA and protein. 

Citation： Qi ZENG Xiaobo XIA. Regulation of transforming growth factor alpha on glutamate transpoter of retinal Müller cells in mice. Chinese Journal of Ocular Fundus Diseases, 2008, 24(5): 371-374. doi: Copy