The Effects of DON on Scleral Ossicle Development
Submission Type
Pre-recorded Poster
Area of Study or Work
Biology
Faculty Advisor
Tyler Schwend
Expected Graduation Date
2022
Start Date
4-10-2021 8:00 AM
End Date
4-11-2021 5:00 PM
Abstract
Scleral ossicles are intramembranous bones that form in a concentric ring surrounding the cornea within the eyes of birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians. The ring of bones is believed to prevent the eyeball from becoming distorted when the animals experience abrupt pressure changes during flight or while diving underwater. During development, scleral cells are assigned their ossicle (bone) fate upon reception of bone-inducing signal(s) from nearby papillae tissues that arise in the overlying epithelial tissue. Despite their importance to scleral ossicle development, nothing is known concerning how papillae develop in the eye. Interestingly, we have found that treating developing birds (embryonic chick) with 6-diazo-5-oxo-l- norleucine (DON) can block papillae formation in a dose-dependent fashion, thus making them an important experimental paradigm to help uncover the identity of genes responsible for papillae formation. We have carried out gene expression analysis for several genes, and it showed that their expression was either up regulated or down regulated in the DON treated eyes implying that they are involved in the induction of ossicles.
The Effects of DON on Scleral Ossicle Development
Scleral ossicles are intramembranous bones that form in a concentric ring surrounding the cornea within the eyes of birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians. The ring of bones is believed to prevent the eyeball from becoming distorted when the animals experience abrupt pressure changes during flight or while diving underwater. During development, scleral cells are assigned their ossicle (bone) fate upon reception of bone-inducing signal(s) from nearby papillae tissues that arise in the overlying epithelial tissue. Despite their importance to scleral ossicle development, nothing is known concerning how papillae develop in the eye. Interestingly, we have found that treating developing birds (embryonic chick) with 6-diazo-5-oxo-l- norleucine (DON) can block papillae formation in a dose-dependent fashion, thus making them an important experimental paradigm to help uncover the identity of genes responsible for papillae formation. We have carried out gene expression analysis for several genes, and it showed that their expression was either up regulated or down regulated in the DON treated eyes implying that they are involved in the induction of ossicles.