title: In vitro induction and transplantation of eye during early Xenopus development.
abstract: A vertebrate eye was induced via a series of coordinated inductive interactions. Here, we describe a novel in vitro system to induce eye formation at high frequency using Xenopus early gastrulae. The eye formed in vitro is morphologically similar to the normal eye. When the in vitro eye was transplanted into a stage-33 tadpole, the optic nerve was seen extending from the grafted eye to the tectum of the host brain and the in vitro eye graft was retained after metamorphosis. In addition, we transplanted the eye formed in vitro into a tadpole with both eyes removed. The resultant juvenile frogs could perceive brightness using the grafted eye and thereby control their skin color, suggesting that the eye formed in vitro could function normally.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences (Biology), Graduate school of Art and Sciences, University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, 153-8902, Japan.
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sedohara
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Komazaki
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asashima
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers; D019070:Cell Lineage; D004626:Embryology / Q000379:methods*; D005123:Eye / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000637:transplantation*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009799:Ocular Physiological Phenomena; D009900:Optic Nerve / Q000502:physiology; D012038:Regeneration; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013997:Time Factors; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D014981:Xenopus / Q000196:embryology*; D014982:Xenopus laevis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers