Photoreceptor nanotubes mediate the in vivo exchange of intracellular material
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Emerging evidence suggests that intracellular molecules and organelles transfer between cells during embryonic development, tissue homeostasis and disease. We and others recently showed that transplanted and host photoreceptors engage in bidirectional transfer of intracellular material in the recipient retina, a process termed material transfer (MT). We used cell transplantation, advanced tissue imaging approaches, genetic and pharmacologic interventions and primary cell culture to characterize and elucidate the mechanism of MT. We show that MT correlates with donor cell persistence and the accumulation of donor‐derived proteins, mitochondria and transcripts in acceptor cells in vivo. MT requires cell contact in vitro and is associated with the formation of stable microtubule‐containing protrusions, termed photoreceptor nanotubes (PhNTs), that connect donor and host cells in vivo and in vitro. PhNTs mediate GFP transfer between connected cells in vitro. Furthermore, interfering with PhNT outgrowth by targeting Rho GTPase‐dependent actin remodelling inhibits MT in vivo. Collectively, our observations provide evidence for horizontal exchange of intracellular material via nanotube‐like connections between neurons in vivo. Transplanted photoreceptors extend cellular protrusions that contact host photoreceptors and mediate the transfer of transcripts, protein, and mitochondria. The understanding of this phenomenon could transform the cell based therapeutical strategy for certain types of retinal degeneration. Bidirectional transfer of mRNAs, proteins, and mitochondria between transplanted and host retinal cells involves direct contact and formation of microtubule‐based connections between cells.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".