Support Act

You might only spot something providing crucial support – backstage crew or a helping hand – out of the corner of your eye. At the back of your eye itself, where the retina receives and processes light, Müller cells provide support in everything from maintenance to regulation. Researchers examined these cells in a person who had multifocal geographic atrophy, an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration involving multiple areas of retinal damage. They found that Müller cells become activated and chaotically reorganise into a scar-like membrane around drusen, the deposits that build up under the retina in age-related macular degeneration (pictured, in green and red, around drusen to the right). This response may initially help by walling off harmful material, but could also reshape the retina in ways that worsen degeneration. It appears Müller cells have a complex, previously under-appreciated role in disease progression, even helping multiple damaged areas merge into one.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

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• Image from work by Malia M. Edwards and colleagues
• Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
• Published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, April 2026