HISTOLOGICAL AND HISTOCHEMICAL-STUDIES ON DEVELOPING CILIARY BODY IN EYE OF ICR-MOUSE

Histological and histochemical studies have been made on the microscopic structures of the ciliary body from the developing eyes of both pre- (on day 13, 16 and 18 of gestation) and postnatal (on day 1, 5, 10, 14 and 84) mice of the Jcl:ICR strain and on the acidic glycoconjugates contained in the ciliary body tissues of these animals. As the staining procedures of choice, a hematoxylin-eosin procedure and a sensitized high iron diamine method were employed. A nitrous acid procedure was used in combination for some tissue sections, prior to the sensitized diamine method, to aid in the identification of sulfated glycoconjugates. Both the partes optica and caeca retinae could be identified histochemically as early as day 13 of gestation, whereas these parts could not be histologically distinguished from each other at day 16 of gestation. The ciliary folds were detected first in the external layer at day 16 of gestation and subsequently in the internal layer 2 days later. The heparan sulphate proteoglycan observed not only in the thick basement membrane but also in the intra- and intercellular spaces of the internal layer was localized in a distribution pattern which prevented the occurrence of configurational discrepancies between the epithelial cells lining the layer because of the formation of ciliary folds.