| Literature DB >> 24688117 |
Mervyn G Thomas1, Moira Crosier2, Susan Lindsay2, Anil Kumar3, Masasuke Araki4, Bart P Leroy5, Rebecca J McLean3, Viral Sheth3, Gail Maconachie3, Shery Thomas6, Anthony T Moore7, Irene Gottlob1.
Abstract
Idiopathic infantile nystagmus (IIN) is a genetically heterogeneous disorder, often associated with FRMD7 mutations. As the appearance of the retina is reported to be normal based on conventional fundus photography, IIN is postulated to arise from abnormal cortical development. To determine whether the afferent visual system is involved in FRMD7 mutations, we performed in situ hybridization studies in human embryonic and fetal stages (35 days post-ovulation to 9 weeks post-conception). We show a dynamic retinal expression pattern of FRMD7 during development. We observe expression within the outer neuroblastic layer, then in the inner neuroblastic layer and at 9 weeks post-conception a bilaminar expression pattern. Expression was also noted within the developing optic stalk and optic disk. We identified a large cohort of IIN patients (n = 100), and performed sequence analysis which revealed 45 patients with FRMD7 mutations. Patients with FRMD7 mutations underwent detailed retinal imaging studies using ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography. The tomograms were compared with a control cohort (n = 60). The foveal pit was significantly shallower in FRMD7 patients (P < 0.0001). The optic nerve head morphology was abnormal with significantly decreased optic disk area, retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, cup area and cup depth in FRMD7 patients (P < 0.0001). This study shows for the first time that abnormal afferent system development is associated with FRMD7 mutations and could be an important etiological factor in the development of nystagmus.Entities:
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Year: 2014 PMID: 24688117 PMCID: PMC4082370 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddu122
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Hum Mol Genet ISSN: 0964-6906 Impact factor: 6.150
Figure 1.FRMD7 mRNA expression profile in developing human neural retina. (A) Low-magnification image of the embryos from CS 15, 16, 19, 23 and 9 weeks postconception (wpc). (B) Dynamic expression pattern; expression initially confined to the outer neuroblastic layer (ONBL) at CS15, subsequently expression seen within the inner neuroblastic layer (INBL). Bilaminar expression pattern at 9 wpc (arrows). Expression within the developing optic stalk (OPS) at CS15, CS16 and CS19. Expression restricted to the optic nerve sheath (ONS), absent in developing optic disk (OD) at 9 wpc. Peripheral neural retina is the last to differentiate and laminate, hence differential expression between central and peripheral neural retina, most evident at CS16 and CS19. Sense images shown below the antisense images; once pigmentation occurs, RPE appears as false positive for expression at CS16 onward. Low-magnification image scale bar: 500 μm high-magnification image scale bar: 200 μm.
Figure 2.FRMD7 mutations associated with foveal hypoplasia. All mutations were predicted to disrupt the FERM domain or the FERM-adjacent (FA) domain. Splice variants are shown in brackets. The resulting amino acid variations for missense and nonsense mutations are shown.
Figure 3.Foveal hypoplasia with FRMD7 mutations. (A) Arrested retinal development with FRMD7 mutations shown by shallow foveal pit (a), failure of inner retinal cell migration (b), failure of cone photoreceptor specialization (c) and smaller retinal nerve fiber layer (d). (B) 3D thickness maps showing rudimentary foveal pit compared with controls. Central macular thickness (C), foveal pit depth (D) and outer segment thickness (E) were significantly different compared with controls.
Figure 4.Optic nerve changes with FRMD7 mutations. (A) Normal optic nerve head shown for comparison with FRMD7 mutations (B). Optic disk area (C), nerve fiber layer thickness (D), cup area (E) and cup depth (F) were significantly different compared with controls.