MOLECULAR RECAPITULATION - THE GROWTH OF THE VERTEBRATE RETINA

In postembryonic lower vertebrates, the ciliary marginal zone (CMZ) of the retina is a continuously growing zone in the central nervous syst em. By studying the cellular and molecular biology of the cells in thi s region, we have discovered that the CMZ can be divided into several zones, from peripheral to central, which reflect different stages of d evelopment of retinal stem cells. Based on the behavior of the cells a nd on the genes expressed in different regions, we propose here that c ellular development in the CMZ recapitulates in space what happens in embryonic retinal development in time.