Localization of αA-Crystallin in Rat Retinal Muller Glial Cells and Photoreceptors

Transparent cells in the vertebrate optical tract, such as lens fiber cells and corneal epithelium cells, have specialized proteins that somehow permit only a low level of light scattering in their cytoplasm. It has been shown that both cell types contain (1) beaded intermediate filaments as well as (2) alpha-crystallin globulins. It is known that genetic and chemical alterations to these specialized proteins induce cytoplasmic opaqueness and visual complications. Crystallins were described previously in the retinal Muller cells of frogs. In the present work, using immunocytochemistry, fluorescence confocal imaging, and immuno-electron microscopy, we found that alpha A-crystallins are present in the cytoplasm of retinal Muller cells and in the photoreceptors of rats. Given that Muller glial cells were recently described as living light guides as were photoreceptors previously, we suggest that alpha A-crystallins, as in other highly transparent cells, allow Muller cells and photoreceptors to minimize intraretinal scattering during retinal light transmission.