Elsevier

Developmental Biology

Volume 18, Issue 2, August 1968, Pages 163-179
Developmental Biology

Differential addition of cells to the retina in Rana pipiens tadpoles

https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-1606(68)90041-9Get rights and content

Abstract

In Rana pipiens tadpoles the number of cells in the inner nuclear layer of the retina continuously increases. At stage I this layer is only two cells thick. By the end of metamorphosis at stage XXV the thickness of this layer has reached a level of 10–11 cells in depth.

Colchicine and thymidine-3H were used to determine the source and manner of distribution of the new cells added to this layer.

New cells are produced by mitosis at the margin of the retina. This is the only region where mitotic figures are observed following colchicine treatment for extended periods.

Nuclei at the margin of the retina readily incorporate thymidine-3H prior to division. Following mitosis, labeled cells move into the inner nuclear layer and migrate toward the fundic region of the eye. The velocity of their movement steadily decreases on subsequent days following emigration from the margin.

These new cells may be responsible for the change in the requirements of the visual system as the animal prepares to leave the water and change from a bottom feeding omnivore to a voracious carnivore.

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    This investigation was conducted under a “Fight for Sight Postdoctoral Research Fellowship” number F-202 from the National Council to Combat Blindness, Inc., New York, and an equipment grant number 4655 from the Penrose Fund of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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