Summary
In the matured chick retina, alkaline phosphatase (ALPase) activity is specifically localized in the outer plexiform layer and in horizontal and Müller cells. In the developing chick retina, ALPase activity is first recognized in growing neurites from horizontal cells during the 13th day of incubation, when synaptogenesis begins in the outer plexiform layer. Intraocular administration of ALPase inhibitors to developing chick embryos resulted in developmental disturbances in differentiation of the outer plexiform layer and also of photoreceptor cells.
We have now extended these studies to anin vitro system. ALPase activity was studied by ultracytochemistry in cultured retinal cells from chick embryos, and the effects of specific ALPase inhibitor on retinal development were also analyzed. Two cell types showed intense ALPase activity: 1) flat glial cell, which formed a multi-layered epithelial sheet and 2) neuronal cell found within cell aggregates. Some cellular processes forming a neuropil-like structure within these aggregates also showed ALPase activity. When the ALPase inhibitor bromotetramisole was present in the culture medium, there was delay in aggregate formation and the development of neuritic processes was also affected. Moreover, this treatment also caused a considerable reduction in the number of photoreceptor cells present in the culture. The present results indicate that ALPase activity plays a significant role in retinal cell differentiation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ABE, H., MIYAHARA, E. & YAMANA, K. (1972) Synthesis of alkaline phosphatase in embryonic cells during aggregate formation.Nature New Biol. 235 254–6.
ADLER, R., MAGISTRETTI, P. J., HYNDMAN, A. G. & SHOEMAKER, W. J. (1982) Purification and cytochemical identification of neuronal and nonneuronal cells in chick embryo retina cultures.Develop. Neurosci. 5 27–39.
ADLER, R. (1986) The differentiation of retinal photoreceptors and neuronsin vitro. InProgress in Retinal Research (edited by G. CHADES & N. OSBORN) vol.6: pp. 1–27, Pergamon Press, London.
ARAKI, M., IDE, C. & SAITO, T. (1982) Ultrastructural localization of acetylcholinesterase activity in the developing chick retina.Acta Histochem. Cytochem. 15 242–55.
ARAKI, M., IDE, C., SAITO, T. & SATO, F. (1983) Ultracytochemical study onin vitro differentiation of neural retinal cells of chick embryos.Develop. Biol. 94 51–61.
ARAKI, M. AND SAITO, T. (1983) Electron microscopic histochemistry of alkaline phosphatase activity in the developing chick retina.Exp. Eye. Res. 36 187–98.
ARAKI, M. (1984) Immunocytochemical study on photoreceptor cell differentiation in the cultured retina of the chick.Develop. Biol. 103 313–18.
ARAKI, M., SAITO, T., TAKEUCHI, Y. & KIMURA, H. (1984) Differentiation of monoamine accumulating neuron systems in cultured chick retina: An immunohistochemical and fluorescence histochemical study.Develop. Brain Res. 15 229–37.
ARAKI, M. & SAITO, T. (1986) Alterations in the differentiation of chick neural retinal cells caused by an intraocular injection of alkaline phosphatase inhibitor.Exp. Eye Res. 43 713–28.
BORGERS, M. & THONE, F. (1975) The inhibition of alkaline phosphatase by 1-p-bromotetramisole.Histochem. 44 277–80.
CIANI, F., CONTESTABILE, A., MINELLI, G. R. & QUAGLIA, A. (1973) Ultrastructural localization of alkaline phosphatase in cultures of nervous tissuein vitro. J. Neurocytol. 105–16.
CRISANTI-COMBES, P., PRIVAT, A., PESSAC, B. & CALOTHY, G. (1977) Differentiation of chick embryo neuroretina cells in monolayer cultures. An ultrastructural study: I. Seven-day retina.Cell Tiss. Res. 185 159–73.
DEPOMERAI, D. I. & CARR, A. (1982) GABA and choline accumulation by cultures of chick embryo neuroretinal cells.Exp. Eye Res. 34 553–63.
DUTT, K. & REIF-LEIHRER, L. (1981) Glutamine synthetase induction in chick embryo retina monolayers.Cell Biophys. 3 1–17.
HYNDMAN, A. G. & ADLER, R. (1982) Analysis of glutamate uptake and monosodium glutamate toxicity in neural retina monolayer cultures.Develop. Brain Res. 2 303–14.
KARNOVSKY, M. J. & ROOTS, L. A. (1964) A ‘direct-coloring’ thiocholine method for cholinesterase.J. Histochem. Cytochem. 12 219–21.
KWONG, W. H. & TAM, P. P. L. (1984) The pattern of alkaline phosphatase activity in the developing mouse spinal cord.J. Embryo. exp. Morph. 82 241–51.
LI, H. P. & SHEFFIELD, J. B. (1984) Isolation and characterization of flat cells, a subpopulation of the embryonic chick retina.Tiss. Cell 16 843–57.
LOOMIS, JR., W. F. (1969) Developmental regulation of alkaline phosphatase inDictyostelium discoideum.J. Bacteriol. 100 417–22.
MATSUI, K., NAKAMURA, H. & YASUDA, M. (1986) Alkaline phosphatase activity in the neural tube of the mouse embryo.Progress in Develop. Biol., Part B, 145–8, Alan R. Loss, Inc.
MAYAHARA, H., HIRANO, H., SAITO, T. & OGAWA, K. (1967) The new lead citrate method for the ultracytochemical demonstration of activity of non-specific alkaline phosphatase (Orthophosphoric monoester phosphohydrolase).Histochemie 11 88–96.
MCCOMB, R. B., BOWERS, JR., G. N. & POSEN, S. (1979)Alkaline phosphatase, pp. 107–52 Plenum Press, New York.
MELLER, K. & GLEES, P. (1965) The differentiation of neuroglia-Müller-cells in the retina of chick.Z. Zellforsch. 66 321–32.
MIRSKY, R., WENDON, L. M. B., BLACK, P., STOLKIN, C. & BRAY, D. (1978) Tetanus toxin: a cell surface marker for neurons in culture.Brain Res. 148 251–9.
MOOG, F. (1943) The distribution of phosphatase in the spinal cord of chick embryos of one to eight days' incubation.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 29 176–83.
MOSCONA, A. A. & LINSER, P. J. (1983) Developmental and experimental changes in retinal glia cells: cell interactions and control of phenotype expression and stability.Curr. Top. Develop. Biol. 18 155–88.
NICHOLS, C. & KOELLE, G. B. (1968) Comparison of the localization of acetylcholinesterase and non-specific cholinesterase activities in mammalian and avian retinas.J. Comp. Neurol. 133 1–16.
STERNBERGER, L. A. (1974) The unlabelled antibody enzyme method. InImmunocytochemistry, vol. 6, 129–71, Englewood, New Jersey.
VAN BELLE, H. (1972) Kinetics and inhibition of alkaline phosphatases from canine tissues.Biochim. Biophys. Acta 289 158–65.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Araki, M., Sato, F. & Saito, T. Effects of alkaline phosphatase inhibitors on chick neural retinal cell differentiationin vitro: Ultracytochemical studies. Histochem J 19, 579–588 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01687366
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01687366