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First published online June 1, 2005
doi: 10.1242/10.1242/dev.01855

Development 132, 2873-2882 (2005)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2005
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Neuronal death induced by endogenous extracellular ATP in retinal cholinergic neuron density control

Valentina Resta1, Elena Novelli1, Francesco Di Virgilio2 and Lucia Galli-Resta1,*

1 Istituto di Neuroscienze CNR-56100 Pisa, Italy
2 Department of Experimental and Diagnostic Medicine, Section of General Pathology, and Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Inflammation (ICSI), University of Ferrara, 44100 Ferrara, Italy

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: galli{at}in.cnr.it)

Accepted 6 April 2005

The precise assembly of neuronal circuits requires that the correct number of pre- and postsynaptic neurons form synaptic connections. Neuronal cell number is thus tightly controlled by cell death during development. Investigating the regulation of cell number in the retina we found an ATP gated mechanism of neuronal death control. By degrading endogenous extracellular ATP or blocking the P2X7 ATP receptors we found that endogenous extracellular ATP triggers the death of retinal cholinergic neurons during normal development. ATP-induced death eliminates cholinergic cells too close to one another, thereby controlling the total number, the local density and the regular spacing of these neurons.

Key words: Retina, Cell death, ATP, P2X7, Amacrine cells, Mosaics, Rat




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