Retinal horizontal cells reduced in a rat model of congenital stationary night blindness

This work was conducted to determine whether congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB), which is caused by a Cacna1f mutation, could affect development of second-order neurons in the retina, such as horizontal cells (HCs). The CSNB rats and age-matched wild type rats were sacrificed at postnatal days (PND) 15, 30 and 60. Morphometric analyses of HCs, which were labeled by a primary antibody to calbindin D-28K, were performed at the light microscopic level on retinal cross sections and whole mount retinas. Calbindin D-28K was measured by western blotting in retinal samples. We found that the average number and density of HCs, Calbindin level and thickness of OPL were all decreased significantly in CSNB group compared to control group. These results indicated that second-order retinal neurons, such as horizontal cells, are affected by retinal degeneration. The relationship between the absence of HCs and the gene defect of CSNB requires further research.