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Fig. 4. Overexpression of Xlens1 causes thickening in lens ectoderm and suppresses differentiation of lens fibers. (A) Differential interference contrast image of the uninjected side showing the normal histological relationship between the lens vesicle (lv) and the surface ectoderm, which is composed of two thin layers of cells. r, retina. 190 (B) The injected side of the same embryo contains a smaller lens vesicle (lv) and a thickened lens ectoderm (le). r, retina. (C) Confocal image of a transverse section from stage 35. On the uninjected side (left) the expression of γ-crystallin protein (red) is comparable to that in normal, unperturbed embryos, with strong expression in the fibers of the lens vesicle (lv). On the injected side (right), γ-crystallin expression is confined to the fibers of a greatly reduced lens vesicle. The thickened lens ectoderm expresses high levels of Xlens1 (green). 190 (D,E) Cell nuclei stained with Hoechst. On control side (D), the ectoderm overlying the lens vesicle (lv) is 2 cell layers thick. On the injected side (E), the thickened ectoderm is 4-6 cell layers thick (between arrows). Magnification, 190(A-C), 240(D,ε). |
