Ronald Meyer, Ph.D.
Neural injury regeneration – Our primary interest is in CNS nerve injury and repair. We are exploring this issue using the visual system. When the optic nerve of a mouse or any other mammal is severed, the nerve fails to regenerate and the animals are permanently blind. However, in goldfish, the severed nerve will regrow back to the brain to restore orderly nerve connections and vision.
Much of our current work is focused on understanding how the optic nerve responds to injury and how the neurons in the brain respond to the loss of their nerve connection in the goldfish. In vivo imaging technology using widefield and 2 photon microscopy is used to observe the injured and regenerating axons in the living brain so as to understand the dynamics of their behavior and response to treatments. Electrophysiological recording from the visual centers of the brain is utilized to determine how these neurons compensate for the loss of neuronal input and subsequently adjust to newly formed connections during regeneration.
Recent Publications
- Dawson, A.J. and Meyer, R.L., (2008) Growth dynamics and morphology of regenerating optic fibers in tectum are altered by injury conditions: An in vivo imaging study in goldfish, Exp. Neurol., 210:592-601.
- Si, K, Miotke, J.A., Meyer, R.L., Wang, Z. (2008) Axonal rearrangement without reexpression of a growth associated marker: evidence from the compression of the retinotectal system in adult goldfish, Rest. Neurol. Neurosci.
- Dawson, A.J. and Meyer, R.L., (2008) Growth dynamics and morphology of regenerating optic fibers in tectum are altered by injury conditions: An in vivo imaging study in goldfish, Experimental. Neurology.
- Riegle, K.C. and Meyer, R.L. (2007) Rapid homeostatic plasticity in the intact adult visual system, J. Neuroscience 27: 10556-10567.
- Miotke, J.A., MacLennan, A.J., Meyer, R.L. (2007) Immunohistochemical localization of CNTFa in adult mouse retina and optic nerve following intraorbital nerve crush: Evidence for the axonal loss of a trophic factor receptor after injury, J. Comp. Neurology 500: 384-400.