Impaired formation of the inner retina in an AChE knockout mouse results in degeneration of all photoreceptors

Blinding diseases can be assigned predominantly to genetic defects of the photoreceptor/pigmented epithelium complex. As an alternative, we show here for an acetylcholinesterase (AChE) knockout mouse that photoreceptor degeneration follows an impaired development of the inner retina. During the first 15 postnatal days of the AChE-/- retina, three major calretinin sublaminae of the inner plexiform layer (IPL) are disturbed. Thereby, processes of amacrine and ganglion cells diffusely criss-cross throughout the IPL. In contrast, parvalbumin cells present a nonlaminar IPL pattern in the wild-type, but in the AChE-/- mouse their processes become structured within two 'novel' sublaminae. During t…