The Eye of the Laboratory Mouse Remains Anatomically Adapted for Natural Conditions

Abstract

Evolutionary effects of domestication have been demonstrated for several body systems, including the eye, and for several vertebrate species, including the mouse. Given the importance of the laboratory mouse to vision science, we wished to determine whether the anatomical and histological features of the eyes of laboratory mice are distinct from those of their naturally adapted, wild counterparts. We measured dimensions and masses of whole eyes and lenses from a wild population plus three inbred strains (C57BL/6J, NZB/BINJ, and DBA/1J) of the house house, Mus musculus, as well as wild and outbred laboratory-domesticated stock of the deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus. Histological preparations from these eyes were used to determine outer nuclear layer thickness, linear density of the ganglion cell layer, and for indirect immunofluorescence evaluation of cone opsin expression. For all of these traits, no statistically significant differences were found between any laboratory strain and its wild counterpart. The evolutionary effects of domestication of mice therefore do not include changes to the eye in any variable measured, supporting the continued use of this animal as a model for a naturally adapted visual system.

Modulation of p75NTR prevents diabetes- and proNGF-induced retinal inflammation and blood–retina barrier breakdown in mice and rats

“…Deletion of p75 NTR rendered p75KO mice insensitive to glial activation, increased vascular permeability and diabetes-induced ganglion cell loss, all of which are hallmarks of early diabetic retinopathy. Although the 25% loss of BRN3 A-positive ganglion cells in WT diabetic mice is higher than the 7% loss reported by others [44] after 6 weeks of streptozotocin-induced diabetic in C57BL6 mice, our total GCL counts and percentage of BRN3A-positive cells in WT control mice are comparable to published reports [45, 46]. Diabetes-induced ganglion cell loss also varies with the duration of diabetes, insulin supplementation and counting method.…”

Non-contact measurement of linear external dimensions of the mouse eye

“…Our mice were up to P800, which is longer than any other studies, and the trends of earlier studies extrapolated as far as P800 hold up well with our actual measurements (Shupe et al, 2006; Zhou and Williams, 1999a, b). …”

“…While several groups have measured mouse eye size (Glickstein and Millodot, 1970; Martins et al, 2008; Puk et al, 2006; Shupe et al, 2006; Zhou et al, 2001; Zhou and Williams, 1999a, b) and eye weight (Barathi et al, 2008; Shupe et al, 2006) and lens size and lens weight (Augusteyn, 1998; Shupe et al, 2006), there are difficulties in achieving extremely high levels of accuracy and precision with the rapidity and throughput needed for large mouse studies, including mutant screens, crossbreeding, and transgenic technologies. Similar eye measurement problems arise in mutant screens and breeding experiments with small fish, cf., zebrafish, or during mammalian embryonic development when the eye is quite small and rapidly growing.…”

Transcriptional neoteny in the human brain

“…Log-transformed ages are frequently used to analyze developmental phenotypes with parametric models (e.g., [31][32][33]. In our dataset, this transformation yields a more uniform distribution of errors across ages than the linear age scale, making it more suitable for statistical analysis (34).…”