Müller glial microRNAs are required for the maintenance of glial homeostasis and retinal architecture

In order to identify the miRNAs in adult Dicer1-CKO Müller glia of the neural retina, we isolated the Müller glia from Rlbp-CreER: Stopf/f-tdTomato/Dicerf/f mice by means of fluorescent activated cell sorting and analyzed their miRNAs using NanoStrings Technologies®. miRNA expression of Dicer1-CKO Müller glia was compared to wild type Müller glia (a re-analyzed sample from GSE94759). We found that all highly expressed miRNAs declined in the Dicer-CKO leading to a disruption in retinal architecture over time. Fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) was used to purify adult Müller glia (pooled from 26 retinas, > postnatal day 21), using an Müller glia specific cre-lox labeling strategy by crossing Rlbp1-CreER:tdTomato mice with Dicer1f/f mice. The RNA was extracted from purified Müller glia (tdTomato+) and miRNA expression was analysed using NanoString and nCounter Technologies ®. This work was funded by these additional grants: Grant Number: Wo 2010/1-1 Source: DFG scholarship for S.G. Wohl, German Research Foundation (DFG) Grant Number: TA-RM-0614-0650 Source: for T.A. Reh, Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) Grant Number: P30EY01730 Source: Vision Core Grant for the use of imaging facilities