Optic Nerve Sectioning Does not Affect the Development of the Retina

Abstract

The development of the retina of the albino rat was studied after sectioning of the optic nerves on the 2nd postnatal day. The 2nd day represents a stage at which the retina shows only the ganglion cell layer clearly delineated from an undifferentiated mass. Section of optic nerves at this stage did not affect the subsequent retinal development. Both control and experimental eyes developed at the same pace. Some minor degrees of ‘retardation’ e.g. the sizes of outer segments, appeared to deviate in the experimental retinae.

The diversity of cones in the retina of vertebrates: A review

“…Moreover, some visual cells would survive even if they were detached from the brain or the secondary or tertiary neurons. This notion had been proved in the developing rat retina after sectioning of the optic nerve, the retina still developed into the adult form 23 , and in the degenerating human foetal brain where development and maturation of the retina had not been prohibited 24 . In other studies, detachment of the cat retina would promptly cause degeneration of cone cells.…”

Comparison of Retinal Degeneration in the Normal Goldfish and the Megalophthalmic Black Moor Goldfish after Optic Nerve Transection and Lens Extraction

“…These cellular changes in the retina have been evident not only in the lower vertebrates but also in the higher vertebrates as well, for example in adult rats and rabbits (Steele, van Hof, van der Steen, & Collewijn, 1987;Tsang, Yew, & Lam, 1985). On the other hand, in the developing retina of the rat, optic nerve sectioning did not seem to influence genesis of the layers of the retina (Yew, Zhang, Hui, & Li, 1989). In the present work, we used the megalophthalmic goldfish to investigate two related issues: (1) to compare the effect of optic nerve sectioning between a normal strain of goldfish and a strain of megalophthalmic goldfish with documented degeneration of the retina (Yew et al, 1990(Yew et al, , 1991(Yew et al, & 2001 and (2) to see if lens extraction in these two species would affect the degree of cell degeneration of the retina.…”