Muller Cells

Muller cells are specialized glial cells that are found in the retina of the human eye. Although they function as any normal glial cells, it has been seen, after an injury to the retina, that Müller cells undergo dedifferentiation into multipotent progenitor cells. At this point, the progenitor cell can divide and differentiate into a number of retinal cell types, including photoreceptor cells, that may have been damaged during injury. Additionally, recently published research has shown that Müller cells act as a light collector in the mammalian eye, analogous to a fiber optic plate, funneling light to the rod and cone cells. Müller cells are currently being studied for their role in neural regeneration, a phenomenon that is not known to occur in humans.

Müller cells are the principal glial cell of the retina. They form architectural support structures stretching radially across the thickness of the retina and are the limits of the retina at the outer and inner limiting membrane respectively. Muller cell bodies sit in the inner nuclear layer and project irregularly thick and thin processes in either direction to the outer limiting membrane and to the inner limiting membrane.

Retinal Artery

The retinal artery (or central retinal artery) is an oxygenated blood vessel which branches off the ophthalmic artery, running inferior to the optic nerve within its dural sheath to the eyeball. After penetrating the optic nerve close to the eyeball, the retinal artery sends branches over the internal surface of the retina. These terminal branches supplied the retina with nutrients and oxigen. However, the fovea and a small area surrounding it are not supplied by the central retinal artery or its branches, but instead by the choroid.

The retinal artery also supplies all the nerve fibers that form the optic nerve that carries the visual information to the occipital lobe cerebral cortex, including those that reach over the fovea. If the central retinal artery gets occluded, there is complete loss of vision in that eye even though the fovea is not affected. The entire retina, with the exception of the fovea, becomes pale and swollen and opaque while the central fovea still appears reddish due to the choroid color that shows through.