%0 Journal Article %J Cells %D 2020 %T Electrical Stimulation Induces Retinal Müller Cell Proliferation and Their Progenitor Cell Potential %A Enayati, Sam %A Chang, Karen %A Achour, Hamida %A Cho, Kin-Sang %A Xu, Fuyi %A Guo, Shuai %A Z Enayati, Katarina %A Xie, Jia %A Zhao, Eric %A Turunen, Tytteli %A Sehic, Amer %A Lu, Lu %A Utheim, Tor Paaske %A Chen, Dong Feng %X Non-invasive electrical stimulation (ES) is increasingly applied to improve vision in untreatable eye conditions, such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. Our previous study suggested that ES promoted retinal function and the proliferation of progenitor-like glial cells in mice with inherited photoreceptor degeneration; however, the underlying mechanism remains obscure. Müller cells (MCs) are thought to be dormant residential progenitor cells that possess a high potential for retinal neuron repair and functional plasticity. Here, we showed that ES with a ramp waveform of 20 Hz and 300 µA of current was effective at inducing mouse MC proliferation and enhancing their expression of progenitor cell markers, such as (cone-rod homeobox) and , as well as their production of trophic factors, including ciliary neurotrophic factor. RNA sequencing revealed that calcium signaling pathway activation was a key event, with a false discovery rate of 5.33 × 10 ( = 1.78 × 10) in ES-mediated gene profiling changes. Moreover, the calcium channel blocker, nifedipine, abolished the observed effects of ES on MC proliferation and progenitor cell gene induction, supporting a central role of ES-induced Ca signaling in the MC changes. Our results suggest that low-current ES may present a convenient tool for manipulating MC behavior toward neuroregeneration and repair. %B Cells %V 9 %8 2020 Mar 23 %G eng %N 3 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32210151?dopt=Abstract %R 10.3390/cells9030781