# Mechanisms of vitamin A deprivation and replacement therapy

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON · 2020 · $381,250

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Vitamin A is critical for human health and vision. Insufficient uptake of vitamin A severely damages
photoreceptors, causes a loss of visual pigments, and is the leading cause of preventable
childhood blindness according to the WHO. However, little is known about how vitamin A
deprivation affects photoreceptors on the molecular level and how vitamin A replacement therapy
mediates structural and functional photoreceptor recovery. Our long-term goal is to use the
Drosophila melanogaster retina as a model to fill this gap in our knowledge and to analyze the
underlying mechanisms.
This proposal synergistically combines Drosophila genetics, immunohistochemistry, behavioral
analysis, and quantitative proteomics. This multidisciplinary approach will allow us to evaluate the
central hypotheses that different photoreceptor types – functionally equivalent to human rods
and cones - respond differently to vitamin A deprivation and that vitamin A deficiency triggers
protective mechanisms that stabilize damaged photoreceptors. We will pursue three major
specific aims. First, we will analyze how different photoreceptor types respond to vitamin A
deprivation. Second, we seek to identify the proteins and cellular pathways that are affected by
vitamin A deprivation and vitamin A replacement therapy. Third, we will determine the function of
a novel transmembrane protein that we found to be highly upregulated in vitamin A-deprived
retinas to stabilize the damaged photoreceptors.
The proposed research is significant, as it will provide fundamental insights into the molecular
response of different photoreceptor types to vitamin A deprivation. It will also unravel how vitamin
A replacement therapy leads to improvement of photoreceptor structure and function. Collectively,
this proposal has the potential to identify mechanisms that stabilize damaged photoreceptors and
to open new avenues for treating human eye diseases.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9842834
- **Project number:** 5R01EY029659-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Jens Rister
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $381,250
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-01-01 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9842834

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9842834, Mechanisms of vitamin A deprivation and replacement therapy (5R01EY029659-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9842834. Licensed CC0.

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