Effects of retinal detachment on rod disc membrane assembly in cultured frog retinas

The authors compared rod outer segment (ROS) disc membrane assembly rates in detached and attached frog retinas to determine if there was a rapid impairment of membrane assembly in response to retinal detachment. Membrane assembly was quantified in vitro by incubating retinas in medium containing Lucifer yellow, which is entrapped by nascent discs. Video microscopy was used to detect incorporation of the dye. During the first 10 hr after separation of the retina from the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), ROS-disc membrane assembly in isolated Xenopus laevis neural retinas continued at a near normal rate, 0.81 microns/10 hr, a 13% reduction (P less than .01), compared with the 0.93 microns/10 hr observed in attached control retinas. The morphology of the OS appeared normal in most rod photoreceptors by transmission electron microscopy, although vesiculation of the most basal OS membranes was seen in a small population (25%) of rods. Approximately 90% of rod photoreceptors continued to assemble OS membranes for more than 10 hr after detachment, but by the end of 2 days, only 55% were still making new discs. The percentage of rods with normal basal OS membranes also decreased (to approximately 50%). Therefore, only 25% were assembling morphologically normal discs 2 days after detachment. In attached control regions, rod photoreceptors showed a comparatively minor response to culture conditions; assembly of morphologically normal discs continued for 2 days in about 85% and ceased in only 10%. These results indicate that the effects on disc membrane assembly of disrupting photoreceptor-RPE interaction in vitro initially are slight but become progressively severe with time.