Spaltlampenmikroskopie und Ophthalmoskopie am Auge von Ratte und Maus

Abstract

Mit 4 Figurenund 41 Tafeln (II--XLII (6. VII. 1950) Jedesmal wenn ich in Lltrech~ am ,,Gasthuis voor Ooglijders" anklopfte, zeigte mir Dr. F. P. Fischer die derzeit im Laboratorium laufenden Arbeiten. Diskussionen schlossen sich an. Abschliessend pflegte er zu sagen: ,,Das sind also die Dinge, mit denen ich gegenwfirtig spiele." Es ist so, wie der menschliche Creist einmal angelegt ist, bedeutet fiir ihn die Besch/iftigung in wissenschaftlicher Forschung ein ganz besonders reizvolles Spiel, und Dr. F i s c h e r ging darin auf. Dem Einblick in seine Denkart und seine Arbeitsweise, den er mir in ungew6hnlicher Offenheit freundschaftlich ge~ wfihrte, verdanke ich --wie gewiss mit mir zahlreiche Kollegen --intensive F6rderung und eine Fiille yon Anregungen. Es gilt, diese weiter zu tragen.Dr. Fist her hat als Redaktor der ,,Documenta" die nachfolgende Arbeit noch pers6nlich durchgesehen. Es ist mir eine besondere Freude, sie seinem Andenken widmen zu diirfen. VorbemerkungDie kleinen Nager, Ratte und Maus, bilden als Versuchstiere einen integrierenden Bestandteil biologischer Laboratorien; ohne sie ist experimentelle Biologie kaum denkbar. Gegentiber dem Allgemeininteresse, das diese Tiere geniessen, entspricht die wissenschaftliche Auswertung yon spontan oder im Experiment auftretenden Augensymptomen bei ihnen abet doch noch nicht der Bedeutung und auch nicht der Reichhaltigkeit des anfallenden Beobachtungsmaterials. Mit einer spezie11 auf Ratte und Maus zugeschnit-452

PCR analysis of DNA from 70-year-old sections of rodless retina demonstrates identity with the mouse rd defect.

“…In retrospect, it appears likely that the albino mice sent by Bruckner to London and Strasbourg had been mated to laboratory mice, since the mice he had caught in the wild were presumably not albinos. Bruckner's laboratory mice, in (11,35); ifrd survives in the wild, it may have some as-yet-unrecognized beneficial effect (36). Given the evidence for genetic identity in this paper, the conventional nomenclature rule would be to reestablish priority for the name rodless, r. However, the name rodless is less informative of the pathological process, and retinal degeneration, rd, is widely entrenched in the literature.…”

“…The differences between normal and homozygous mutant retinas in the third postnatal week and thereafter were interpreted, based on the incomplete formulation of retinal histogenesis available at that time, as an arrest of development of the mutant retina at a normal stage that had been reached late in the first postnatal week. The crucial contribution of Tansley (12,13), Karli (15,16), and Sorsby et al (14), all studying progeny of albino mice that had been obtained from Bruckner (11), was to recognize that a severe and rapidly progressive degenerative process was superimposed on the partially differentiated photoreceptor cells during the third postnatal week. By about 21 days of age, retinas of the Bruckner-derived mice and all subsequent rd mice were histologically indistinguishable from those described earlier by Keeler, but, aware of the principle that similar phenotypes can result from different genotypes, they each interpreted the "Bruckner" disease to be different from Keeler's rodless retina, which was presumably based on a developmental arrest.…”

“…Sequence analysis of the PCR products revealed the presence of the same nonsense mutation and two intron polymorphisms in r DNA. PCR and direct sequence analysis of 11 strains of mice known to carry rd (or a similar allele) also revealed the presence of the nonsense mutation and the same intron polymorphisms. The fact that all r and rd mice contain an identical defect and intron polymorphisms in the phosphodiesterase (3subunit gene settles beyond reasonable doubt that a single mutation arising >70 years ago is now widely distributed through inbred mouse strains.…”

“…In 1951 Brickner reported a retinal abnormality that he first recognized by ophthalmoscopic criteria in wild mice caught in the vicinity of Basel and Zurich (11), though the question arose later as to whether his wild mice were pooled with laboratory mice before the retinal disease came to be studied in detail (10,12,13). Descendants of Bruckner's mice were analyzed by Sorsby, Tansley, and their colleagues in London (12)(13)(14), by Karli in Strasbourg (15,16), and later by others (17)(18)(19), with a consensus that the essential pathological process was a degeneration of partially differentiated photoreceptor cells, rather than a developmental arrest, and therefore, that the disease was probably unrelated to Keeler's rodless retina.…”

The Vascular System of the Albino Rat Iris, and Its Suitability for Vital Microscopy and ExperimentalStudies on Microcirculation

“…2) can be studied more conveniently in many respects than can that of the mesenterium or other membranous organs of cold-or warmblooded ani mals, which have been favorite subjects since the beginnings of vital micro scopy. Although the iris vessels of small rodents (mice, rats, and guinea pigs) have already served as subjects for numerous ophthalmoscopic [2], histologic [11,13], functional, and pharmacologic [10,12] studies, their great significance for biomicroscopy was first recognized by Bensley in 1960 [1]. He developed a special transillumination technique for the eyes of small albino rodents, in which the bulbus is illuminated by a quartz rod inserted into the lower con junctival sac.…”