Figure 1.

Acute cholesterol depletion transiently increases the frequency of spontaneous transmembrane currents (SMC) and the amplitude of [Ca²⁺]_i in intact Müller cells.

(A) Whole cell recording from a representative voltage-clamped mouse Müller cell in the retinal wholemount preparation. Exposure to methyl-beta-cyclodextrin (MβCD) increases the SMC frequency at 7 minutes (middle panel) but the effect subsides at 20 minutes of cholesterol depletion (bottom panel). (B) Dissociated Müller cells loaded with Fura-2 AM. Exposure to 0.1 mM (top), 1 mM (middle) and 10 mM (bottom panel) MβCD transiently elevates [Ca²⁺]_i. (C) Summary of the results shown in panel B shows significant increase in calcium levels induced by 10 mM MβCD. (D) Summary of results for baseline [Ca²⁺]_i induced by return to control saline in B (red arrows). ΔR/R = ([Ca²⁺]_i response peak – baseline) / baseline. The voltage clamp and optical imaging experiments were performed as previously described (Lakk et al., 2017). Statistical comparisons were performed using one-way analysis of variance test followed by post-hoc Tukey's multiple comparison of means. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01.