Ivanovitch, KD; (2013) Cellular mechanisms underlying the development of the optic vesicles in Zebrafish. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

Abstract

The optic vesicles, the primordia of the eyes, arise by evagination of a single neural plate domain called the eye field. In this thesis, we provide a cellular mechanism involved in the first steps of eye morphogenesis by high-resolution 4-dimensional live imaging in the zebrafish. We show that as neurulation proceeds, eye field cells acquire apico-basal (AB) polarity and adopt a pseudo- stratified neuroepithelial organisation early as compared to other tissues of the neural plate. As a consequence, eye field cells show reduced convergence to the midline and they bulge out from the lateral walls of the forebrain. Early neuroepithelial organisation is first apparent at the margin of the eye field, where cells are in contact with the basal lamina, and is dependent on the extracellular matrix protein (ECM) Lamininl. Cells in the core of the eye field localise polaritry proteins in a polarized manner too and contribute gradually to the marginal layer by elongating and intercalating in between the marginal cells as the bilateral expansion of the eye field takes place. As the optic vesicle further expand laterally during subsequent stages of evagination, eye field cells shorten again along their apico-basal axis. This results in the lateral displacement of their apical surface relative to the basal lamina, and in the completion of optic vesicle evagination.

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