Fine Structural Demonstration of Tyrosinase Activity in the Retinal Pigment Epithelium of Normal and PTU-treated Chick Embryos

Overview

Journal Albrecht Von Graefes Arch Klin Exp Ophthalmol

Specialty Ophthalmology

Date 1979 Jul 2

PMID 111576

Authors

H Mishima

H Hasebe

K Kondo

H Fujita

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The effect of phenylthiourea (PTU) on the retinal pigment epithelium of chick embryo was studied by using electron microscopy and electron-microscopic histochemistry. In the retinal pigment epithelium of PTU-treated, 10-day-old chick embryo, there is an abundance of premelanosomes and relative increases in the smooth endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and in the smooth-surfaced anastomosing tubular channels. Reaction products resulting from electron-microscopic histochemistry are first observed in some cisternae of the distal or active face of the Golgi apparatus and occasionally in small vesicles in the 5-day-old embryo, and these reactions become more intense with time. PTU treatment blocks melanin synthesis in the premelanosomes of 10-day-old chick embryo. Electron-microscopic histochemistry is completely inhibited by PTU treatment. Removal of PTU allows a weak positive reaction to histochemistry in some elements of the Golgi apparatus and in some small vesicles.

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