PUBLICATION
Retinal neurogenesis: the formation of the initial central patch of postmitotic cells
- Authors
- Hu, M. and Easter, Jr., S.S.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-990315-9
- Date
- 1999
- Source
- Developmental Biology 207: 309-321 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Easter, Stephen S., Jr., Hu, Minjie
- Keywords
- zebrafish; retina; optic stalk; gradients; retinal ganglion cell; cell birthdates; neurogenesis
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Bromodeoxyuridine/metabolism
- Cell Cycle
- Cell Differentiation
- Embryonic Development
- Microscopy, Fluorescence
- Mitosis/genetics
- Neurons/metabolism
- Retina/embryology*
- Retina/growth & development
- Retinal Ganglion Cells/cytology*
- Time Factors
- Zebrafish/embryology*
- PubMed
- 10068465 Full text @ Dev. Biol.
Citation
Hu, M. and Easter, Jr., S.S. (1999) Retinal neurogenesis: the formation of the initial central patch of postmitotic cells. Developmental Biology. 207:309-321.
Abstract
We have investigated the relationship between the birthdate and the onset of differentiation of neurons in the embryonic zebrafish neural retina. Birthdates were established by a single injection of bromodeoxyuridine into embryos of closely spaced ages. Differentiation was revealed in the same embryos with a neuron-specific antibody, zn12. The first bromodeoxyuridine-negative (postmitotic) cells occupied the ganglion cell layer of ventronasal retina, where they formed a small cluster of 10 cells or less that included the first zn12-positive cells (neurons). New cells were recruited to both populations (bromodeoxyuridine-negative and zn12-positive) along the same front, similar to the unfolding of a fan, to produce a circular central patch of hundreds of cells in the ganglion cell layer about 9 h later. Thus the formation of this central patch, previously considered as the start of retinal neurogenesis, was actually a secondary event, with a developmental history of its own. The first neurons outside the ganglion cell layer also appeared in ventronasal retina, indicating that the ventronasal region was the site of initiation of all retinal neurogenesis. Within a column (a small cluster of neuroepithelial cells), postmitotic cells appeared first in the ganglion cell layer, then the inner nuclear layer, and then the outer nuclear layer, so cell birthday and cell fate were correlated within a column. The terminal mitoses occurred in three bursts separated by two 10-h intervals during which proliferation continued without terminal mitoses.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping