Changes of polycystin-2 gene expression in the retinal cilia may lead to defective transport of functional proteins through this apparatus, although no change in the morphology of cilia in the TGR retina has been detected so far. The link between the genetic defect of polycystin-2 and the apoptosis of photoreceptors requires further investigations. Since the genetic makeup of the TGR rat has no human correlate, the model must not be considered as an animal model reflecting a specific human disease. In summary, this study provides insight into the relationship between neurodegeneration, glial activation and vessel regression. Further evaluation of the molecular mechanisms involved in vasoregression in the TGR rat and comparative studies with models of Rapamycin vasoregression of diabetic origin supposedly yield novel targets for intervention of retinal vasoregression. The ryanodine receptor type 1 is an intracellular Ca2+ release channel that plays a central role in skeletal muscle excitation contraction coupling. This enormous homotetrameric protein embedded in the sarcoplasmic reticulum is part of a macromolecular complex that includes calmodulin, FK506 binding protein 12 kDa, the skeletal muscle voltage gated Ca2+ channel isoform, and cyclic AMP dependent protein kinase. RyR1 point mutations can result in human skeletal muscle disorders such as malignant hyperthermia, central core disease, and multiple minicore disease. Understanding the overall structure of this macromolecular complex and how perturbations of this structure by these mutations lead to skeletal muscle disease are central questions in skeletal muscle biology. In cryo electron-microscopy reconstructions,SAR131675 the RyR is mushroom-shaped with four-fold symmetry reflective of the homotetrameric arrangement of the individual subunits. Regions of the RyR implicated in muscle diseases have been localized to this cryo EM map via fusion of green fluorescent protein into these elements and subsequent visualization of the corresponding increase in mass on the cryo EM map.