Effects of prenatal ionizing irradiation on the development of the ganglion cell layer of the mouse retina

Prenatal exposure to ionizing irradiation has been shown to be an effective method to eliminate selectively certain neuronal population. This investig ation studied the effects on the ganglion cell layer of the retinae of adul t mice exposed to a gamma source (total dose = 3 Gy) at 16 days gestation. There was 3 significant reduction in the total number of neurons (displaced amacrine + ganglion cells) in the ganglion cell layer (33%) that was mainl y caused by a pronounced loss (59%) of displaced amacrine cells. The diamet ers of the surviving retinal ganglion cells were consistently larger than t hose of the controls. Prenatal irradiation is the first experimental approa ch that partially eliminates displaced amacrine cells. It is suggested that the morphogenesis of retinal ganglion cells may be affected by displaced a macrine cells. (C) 2001 ISDN. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.