Blue light compromises cellular fate of intrinsically photosensitive M&uumlller glial cells in the developing chicken retina.

Blue light exposure for 1 h at the onset of the cell cycle compromises proliferation and migration of primary chicken Müller glial cells, lengthening the cell cycle and reducing pluripotent Sox2+ cells over time.

• Why it matters: Müller glial cells are photosensitive and may act as endogenous neural stem cells, but how blue light alters their fate during retinal development is unclear.
• What they did: Primary chicken Müller glial cell cultures and an immortalized human Müller glial line were stimulated with blue light, tracking cAMP (peak at 10 min), p-CREB (by 30 min), cell-cycle behavior, Sox2, Tbr2, glial markers, and neuronal markers up to 120 h.
• The result: Blue light dampened proliferative capacity and migration, increased cell-cycle length, reduced Sox2+ cells while increasing Tbr2+ progenitors, left glial markers unchanged, and increased TUJ-1 and Brn3 at 120 h, implying photoreception-linked fate shifts.

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