Project 14

Semaphorins in the visual system

Semaphorins are proteins involved in axonal guidance and plasticity; they generally act to inhibit or repel growing axons. It has recently been discovered that many of these molecules are expressed in the rodent retina, but expression in central visual target sites has not been studied. It is also not known how expression of these molecules and their receptors varies during fetal and postnatal development and after injury. In this project, various techniques will be used to analyse expression of semaphorin 3 proteins and their receptors in rat retina and central visual structures.