The primary cilium, a microtubule-based organelle found in most cells, is a centre for mechano-sensing fluid movement and cellular signalling, notably through the Hedgehog pathway. We recently found that each lens fibre cell has an apically situated primary cilium that is polarised to the side of the cell facing the anterior pole of the lens. The direction of polarity is similar in neighbouring cells so that in the global view, lens fibres exhibit planar cell polarity (PCP) along the equatorial-anterior polar axis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The Fat family of atypical cadherins, originally identified in Drosophila, play diverse roles during embryogenesis and adult tissue maintenance. Among four mammalian members, Fat1 is essential for kidney and muscle organization, and is also essential for eye development; Fat1 knockout causes partial penetrant microphthalmia or anophthalmia. To account for the partial penetrance of the Fat1 phenotype, involvement of Fat4 in eye development was assessed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring eye lens development, regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling is critical for two major processes: initially it must be silent in the lens placode for lens development to proceed, but subsequently it is required for maintenance of the lens epithelium. It is not known how these different phases of Wnt/β-catenin activity/inactivity are regulated. Secreted frizzled related protein-2 (Sfrp2), a putative Wnt-Fz antagonist, is expressed in lens placode and in lens epithelial cells and has been put forward as a candidate for regional Wnt/β-catenin pathway regulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA structure-activity study of several new synthetic analogues of the avocado-produced toxin persin has been conducted, with compounds being evaluated for their cytostatic and pro-apoptotic effects in human breast cancer cells. A 4-pyridinyl derivative demonstrated activity comparable to that of the natural product, suggesting future directions for exploration of structure-activity relationships.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To examine the morphological features of macular photoreceptors in histologically normal retina from normal donor eyes and eyes with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Methods: The macular region was excised from 18 donor eyes (aged 22-96 years) and cryosectioned. Sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin or double immunolabeled using opsin antibodies or synaptic markers.