Three-dimensional data capture and analysis of intact eye lenses evidences emmetropia-associated changes in epithelial cell organization

Organ and tissue development are highly coordinated processes; lens growth and functional integration into the eye (emmetropia) is a robust example. An epithelial monolayer covers the anterior hemisphere of the lens, and its organization is the key to lens formation and its optical properties throug...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2020-10, Vol.10 (1), p.16898-16898, Article 16898
Main Authors: Kalligeraki, Alexia A., Isted, Archie, Jarrin, Miguel, Uwineza, Alice, Pal, Robert, Saunter, Christopher D., Girkin, John M., Obara, Boguslaw, Quinlan, Roy A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/114/1564
631/114/794
631/136/2060
631/378/2613
631/80/128/1580
Animals
Emmetropia - physiology
Epithelial Cells - physiology
Epithelium - physiology
Humanities and Social Sciences
Lens, Crystalline - physiology
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Microscopy, Confocal - methods
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
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Summary:Organ and tissue development are highly coordinated processes; lens growth and functional integration into the eye (emmetropia) is a robust example. An epithelial monolayer covers the anterior hemisphere of the lens, and its organization is the key to lens formation and its optical properties throughout all life stages. To better understand how the epithelium supports lens function, we have developed a novel whole tissue imaging system using conventional confocal light microscopy and a specialized analysis software to produce three-dimensional maps for the epithelium of intact mouse lenses. The open source software package geometrically determines the anterior pole position, the equatorial diameter, and three-dimensional coordinates for each detected cell in the epithelium. The user-friendly cell maps, which retain global lens geometry, allow us to document age-dependent changes in the C57/BL6J mouse lens cell distribution characteristics. We evidence changes in epithelial cell density and distribution in C57/BL6J mice during the establishment of emmetropia between postnatal weeks 4–6. These epithelial changes accompany a previously unknown spheroid to lentoid shape transition of the lens as detected by our analyses. When combined with key findings from previous mouse genetic and cell biological studies, we suggest a cytoskeleton-based mechanism likely underpins these observations.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-020-73625-9