N. Marsharmstrong et al., RETINOIC ACID IS NECESSARY FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THE VENTRAL RETINA IN ZEBRAFISH, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Statesof America, 91(15), 1994, pp. 7286-7290
In the embryonic zebrafish retina, as in other vertebrates, retinoic a
cid is synthesized from retinaldehyde by two different dehydrogenases,
one localized dorsally, the other primarily ventrally. Early in eye d
evelopment only the ventral enzyme is present. Citral competitively in
hibits the ventral enzyme in vitro and decreases the production of ret
inoic acid in the ventral retina in vivo. Treatment of neurula-stage z
ebrafish embryos with citral during the formation of the eye primordia
results in eyes lacking a ventral retina. This defect can be partiall
y rescued by retinoic acid. The results demonstrate that synthesis of
retinoic acid can be selectively inhibited in vivo and suggest that re
tinoic acid is necessary for the proper development of the ventral ret
ina.